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COURSE OF LECTURES 



IN DEFENCE 



OF 



THE FINAL RESTORATION. 



DELIVERED IN THE BULFINCH STREET CHURCH, 

BOSTON, IN THE WINTER OF EIGHTEEN 

HUNDRED AND THIRTY TWO. 






BY PAUL 7 DEAN 

n 



I am set for the defence of the Gospel. — Paul. 



1872 






BOSTON: 
PUBLISHED BY EDWIN M. STONE. 

1 832. 



-£)4r 



d*** 



Entered according to Act of Congress in the year 1832, 

By Edwin M. Stone, 
in the Clerk's Office of the District Court of Massachusetts. 



//ff 



PRESS OF THE INDEPENDENT MESSENGER. 






Or 

1 



PREFACE. 



The subject presented to the mind in these lectures^ 
is one of the deepest interest to the reader. Whether we 
shall be personally happy, is a question of the highest 
concern to eyery rational being ; and whether the world 
will be made virtuous and happy is one of the highest 
general interest to all mankind. In the same ratio as we 
feel concerned in the event, shall we feel interested in 
the means by which that event is to be effected ; and 
therefore the revelation of the gospel, being the only 
method by which either the knowledge or happiness of 
heaven can be acquired, will ever command our most 
devout consideration. 

Even that view of religion which promises the salva- 
tion of a part of the world only, is infinitely to be prefer- 
red to infidelity, which sweeps the whole world to one 
common grave of oblivion. But that view of the gospel 
plan advocated in this course, embracing, as it does, the 
universal restoration, and that, without setting aside the 
necessity of experimental and practical godliness,or weak- 
ening the motives to a good life, must always commend 
itself to the approbation and the best wishes of every 
truly benevolent and phinthropic heart. And if, as we 
sincerely believe, it has the united support of revelation, 
who would not wish to understand and believe, as well 
as to support it ? 

Although we thus speak, and speak it to the honor of 
human nature, yet we apprehend and fear that the self- 



IV. PREFACE. 

ish and narrow minded will feel but little interest in it ; 
that the worldly minded will despise its good tidings, and 
neglect its reasonable injunctions ; and that the wicked 
and abandoned will prefer something else, and that for 
the same reason that such persons in the days of our Sa- 
viour chose darkness rather than light, " because their 
deeds were evil." 

No hope of gain, or desire of polemic fame, has in- 
duced the publication of these lectures. The principal 
object of their being given to the public, especially with- 
out that thorough revision, which a firmer state of health 
and more leisure on the part of the author, would have 
afforded, is the gratification of many friends who heard 
them, and desired the opportunity of reading them. Also 
a wish to afford the community, and particularly the re- 
ligious public, a more general and condensed account of 
the sentiments of the Restorationists, and of their rea- 
sons for the adoption and support of them. 

Leaving to others, better qualified for it, the task of 
gratifying the literary taste of an enlightened public, it has 
been my aim to offer the sincere and plain inquirer after 
religious truth, a sure and safe guide to its attainment. 
And to place religion in such a light as that while it has 
the full support of the Bible, and the perfect approba- 
tion of its Divine Author ; it may also command the re- 
spect and veneration of all good men, and receive the 
hearty assent of every reasonable and unbiased mind. 
If in ever so small a degree these objects shall be real- 
ised — if the skeptical shall be established in the love of 
truth, and made more friendly to religion, then will my 
humble effort be rewarded. 



PREFACE. y 

Of the correctness of the sentiments advanced, and of 
the validity and conclusiveness of the reasoning adduced 
in their support, the reader will judge for himself, after 
a candid, faithful and impartial examination. The wri- 
ter can only say, they are such as he most sacredly be- 
lieves to be according to scripture, justice and sound rea- 
son. And such as he is fully persuaded, will, when re- 
ceived and reduced to practice, promote the peace and 
happiness of society, by affording the best grounds of 
faith in the gospel, the best motives to the practice of 
virtue, and the strongest incentives to universal good will 
among men. 

It has been the aim to treat all denominations and par- 
ties with respect and kindness ; while at the same time 
great plainness has been observed in regard to their sen- 
timents, so far as they have been alluded to. The mo- 
dern scheme, which limits rewards and punishments with 
all motives of virtue and religion to the present life, has 
been alluded to incidentally, and opinions of its charac- 
ter and tendency expressed with honest frankness, and 
from a conscientious sense of duty ; but without attempt- 
ing its general investigation ; such investigation not com- 
ing within the scope of our prescribed limits and design. 
The same remark is true of several other topics and 
opinions, which have received more or less notice. 

In a similar way, the subject of temporal death has 
been treated as wholly a physical matter, not affecting in 
the least the moral relation between the soul and its. Mak- 
er — not changing the nature of his moral government 
over it, or its own moral power to comply with his re- 
quirements ; and not therefore placing it beyond the means 
of grace, such as are suited to its condition, it being still 



VI. PREFACE, 

under the gracious government of Christ. This is 
thought to be the most scriptural, rational, and consola- 
tory view of death. Yet there is as wide a difference be- 
tween the future emendatory punishment of the wicked 
as we view it, and the Papal doctrine of purgatory, as 
there is between the punishments of this life and purgatory. 
An intermediate state of moral conscious existence 
for the soul between death and the resurrectiou, has 
also been considered, as sustained by the word of God, 
and by the economy every where observable in the works 
of Jehovah, which would ill justify the useless sleep of 
Abraham and others, from their early death to the res- 
urrection. This state is also required by the divine im- 
partiality in the bestowment of the means of grace, which 
are certainly not equally bestowed on men in the present 
life ; instance the heathen, idiots, infants, to say nothing 
of others; and hence if the means of grace are ever 
equalized, they must be equalized in an intermediate 
state. Further, there are many promises of God which 
are not accomplished \n this life, and if there be no con- 
scious state between death and heaven, they never can 

be. 

These subjects are here alluded to merely to throw 
light on some passages in the lectures ; but as this view 
of death and the conscious state of the dead are calculat- 
ed to obviate many difficulties in theology, they will, no 
doubt, soon receive an ample discussion, and be shown 
to be scriptural, honorable to God, and beneficial to men. 

With these few remarks, the following course of lec- 
tures is, with humble diffidence, submitted to a liberal 
public ; and that they who read may be blessed of hea- 
ven, is the fervent prayer of 

The Author. 



CONTENTS. 



LECTURE I. 
QUESTION STATED, AND ITS IMPORTANCE, 

Page 9—26. 



LECTURE II. 

OBJECTION I. 

Page 27—42. 



LECTURE III. 

OBJECTION II. 
Page 42—56. 



LECTURE IV. 
DURATION OF PUNISHMENT CONSIDERED. 

Page 57—85. 



LECTURE V. 
ANOTHER OBJECTION CONSIDERED. 

Page 86—105. 



Vlll. CONTENTS. 

LECTURE VI. 
PROOFS OF THE FINAL RESTORATION, 

DRAWN FROM THE DIVINE ATTRIBUTES. 

Page 106—121. 



LECTURE VII. 
PROOFS OF THE FINAL RESTORATION, 

DRAWN FROM THE MISSION, WORKS AND DEATH OF CHRIST. 



Page 122—137. 



LECTURE VIII. 
PROOFS OF THE FINAL RESTORATION, 

DRAWN FROM THE PROMISES OF GOD. 

Page 138— 154. 



LFXTURE IX. 
PROOFS OF THE FINAL RESTORATION, 

DRAWN FROM THE NATURE AND TENDENCY OF CHRISTIAN 

MORALITY. 

Page 155—172. 



LECTURE X. 
PROOFS OF THE FINAL RESTORATION, 

DRAWN FROM THE NATURE OF MAN AND THE SCRIPTURAL 
CHARACTER OF FUTURE HAPPINESS. 

Page 173—192. 



LECTURE I. 



QUESTION STATED, AND ITS IMPORTANCE. 



ACTS III. 20, 21. 

AND HE SHALL SEND JESUS CHRIST, WHICH BEFORE WA» 
PREACHED UNTO YOU : WHOM THE HEAVEN MUST, RE- 
CEIVE, UNTIL THE TIMES OF THE RESTITUTION OF ALL 
THINGS, WHICH GOD HATH SPOKEN BY THE MOUTH OF 
ALL HIS HOLY PROPHETS SINCE THE WORLD BEGAN. 

This evening we commence a course of lec- 
tures in defence of the Universal Restoration 
and Eternal Happiness of all Mankind, and of 
its salutary influence on the hearts and lives of 
the followers of Christ, as a doctrine of revela- 
tion. 

In pursuing this subject we shall observe the 
following plain method: — 1. State the ques- 
tion, and its importance; 2. answer some of 

2 



10 



QUESTION STATED, 



the most weighty objections frequently urged 
against its truth and moral tendency ; and 3. 
exhibit the proofs of its being a christian senti- 
ment, and worthy of all acceptation. 

Though in departing from the usual and 
practical method of preaching observed in this 
desk, we shall for a few evenings seem to buckle 
on the armour of the controversialist, it is not 
because we delight in controversy, feel happy 
in its troubled atmosphere, or are animated by 
the hope of gathering laurels of victory on its 
disputed heights ; but because a sense of duty 
has compelled us to publish and attempt to 
vindicate our views of this most interesting 
subject, and thus cast our mite into the treasu- 
ry of divine truth for the satisfaction of friends, 
the honour of Christ, and the advancement of 
his kingdom in the world. And should it please 
God, in any degree, to make this humble effort 
the instrument of accomplishing these objects, 
to his name be the glory. 

Nor do we come to this work with the least 
hostility of feeling towards any denomination 
of christians, or any bitterness of spirit to those 
who differ from us ever so widely in their reli- 
gious opinions ; and, therefore, we cheerfully 
pledge ourselves to observe the most scrupulous 
candour in relation both to the persons and 
sentiments of all whose opinions we may have 
occasion to mention. Just cause of the slightest 



AND ITS IMPORTANCE. 11 

offence shall not be intentionally given to any 
person of christian feelings, or of any senti- 
ments whatever, who may use the freedom to 
attend this discussion ; so that no one may have 
occasion to fear that misrepresentation of his 
sentiments, or that gross personality and abuse 
which have too often degraded Christianity in 
the eyes of its enemies, and rendered contro- 
versy disgusting; when otherwise it might have 
been a powerful and successful auxiliary to the 
triumph and spread of sacred truth. Desiring 
the hearer to dismiss from his mind all preju- 
dice for, as well as against, the doctrine we are 
about to advocate in these lectures, till after a 
patient and attentive hearing, (for he that hears 
with too strong a prepossession for, or against, 
hears to little advantage, and can never be an 
impartial judge,) we assure him that we shall 
not content ourselves by being merely candid, 
but shall speak under a deep sense of responsi- 
bility to the God of truth, for the correctness 
of the opinions we shall offer : and let him that 
heareth remember also his own high obligations, 
so to hear as to understand and judge according 
to truth. 

We shall regard the scriptures as the only 
standard of revealed truth, and studiously seek 
their direction in all we utter ; and while we 
speak according to the words of holy men that 
spake as they were moved by the Holy Ghost, 
let all the people say amen. 



1# QUESTION STATED, 

The passage of inspiration which we have 
placed at the head of this discourse, asserts 
that the restitution of all intelligent and fallen 
creatures to virtue, order, and eternal happi- 
ness, is a divine truth, purposed by Jehovah 
from eternity, and published more or less clear- 
ly by the mouth of all the holy prophets since 
the world began ; and that times or dispensa- 
tions for the beginning and completion of this 
most glorious work, have been set in the coun- 
sels of heaven ; and also that the ever blessed 
Saviour, who had, according to the testimony 
of prophets and the preaching of apostles, began 
it by his ministry, death, resurrection, and 
ascension to heaven, would, at the completion 
of those times, be again sent from thence to 
finish this most transcendent enterprise, which 
will forever remain the theme of admiration to 
saints and angels, and of glory to God and the 
Lamb. 

But before we proceed to reduce these sen- 
timents to a single question, we ask leave here 
to make a more general statement of what we 
conceive to be some of the first or fundamental 
principles of revelation 5 that the bearing of the 
question on those principles, may be the more 
easily seen and felt. They are these : 

1. The moral government of God is a most 
perfect plan, called in scripture his counsel, 
will, purpose, pleasure ; according to which he 
works all things in the dispensations of revela- 



AND ITS IMPORTANCE. 13 

tion, for the accomplishment of the noblest of 
objects, i. e. the greatest good of the universe; 
in relation to which, he is said to see the end 
from the beginning. 

2. All moral and accountable beings were 
created and destined to serve and enjoy God 
forever, as their chief good ; for God is love, 
and the Lord is good to all. 

3. Though all men were created holy, and 
for perfect happiness, yet they all having sinned 
and come short of glory no one can now be saved 
but by being restored to virtue ; for without 
holiness no man can enjoy God or heaven. 

4. Therefore God being no respecter of per- 
sons, sent his Son to be the Saviour of the 
world. 

5. Death having reigned from Adam to the 
coming of Christ, therefore, that he (Christ) 
might be the Saviour of all, dominion was given 
him over the dead in their separate state, as 
well as over the living in this and the resurrec- 
tion state; for he is declared to be Lord, and 
Judge, and Saviour, of the dead and living ; so 
that all will be judged, and all will be saved 
during the reign of the Messiah. 

6. The gospel is the only method of salva- 
tion for sinners ; for by grace are ye saved, 
through Jesus Christ, the only name given 
whereby we must be saved. 

7. Death, therefore, being physical and per- 



14 QUESTION STATED, 

taining to the body, can make no moral change 
in man ; for whether we live or die, we are the 
Lord's, to be rewarded if faithful, to be pun- 
ished if impenitent, being under the same Lord, 
and subject to the same moral laws after as 
before death. 

8. So long as men continue in sin, or impen- 
itency, so long they will continue to be punish- 
ed according to their characters, as attested by 
their works ; but when they exercise repen- 
tance toward God, he will, through the blood 
of Christ, grant them the remission of the sins 
that are past, and justify and save them by 
faith in Jesus. 

9. The means employed by Christ for the 
salvation of the world, i. e. faith and repen- 
tance, must finally and universally succeed, for 
the pleasure of the Lord shall prosper in his 
hand ; and he must reign till he hath put all 
enemies under his feet. 

10. The subjection of all things to Christ 
will be the same, in character and spirit, as 
will be the subjection of Christ to the Father 
in conjunction with his kingdom ; therefore, 
when he resigns his kingdom, it will be per- 
fect in its extent, and in the character of its 
subjects : and thus God will be all in all. 

Now by adopting these principles in connex- 
ion with the text, which appears to be support- 
ed most clearly by the general voice of scrip- 



AND ITS IMPORTANCE. 15 

ture, we inevitably come to the conclusion of 
the universal restoration of all mankind to vir- 
tue and purity ; and believing in the universal 
restoration, we necessarily arrive at the result 
of universal and eternal happiness, which is 
universal salvation. — None will be saved who 
are not first restored ; and none that are or 
shall be restored will fail of salvation. 

The text speaks of this great work as having 
times, i. e. periods or dispensations, set for 
its progress and completion 5 and elsewhere, 
the scriptures speak of its being finished in the 
fulness of times : so that we have no scrip- 
tural authority for supposing it will be perform- 
ed for all men, individually or collectively, at 
death, or any specified time, short of the ful- 
ness of times. 

The question, therefore, which we are now to 
discuss, is not whether any or all will be saved 
without genuine faith in Jesus Christ — wheth- 
er any or all will be made happy without first 
being brought to feel a sincere and godly sor- 
row for sin, and an ardent thirst for holiness ? 
This we have no reason to believe or expect. 

Nor are we here to discuss the question 
whether all men, christian or pagan, saint or 
sinner, penitent or impenitent, will escape all 
guilt, remorse, and mental suffering for sin, in 
or at the article of temporal death, and be for- 
ever after equally and eternally happy 1 Neith- 



(k 



16 QUESTION STATED, 

er reason nor scripture, justice nor equal mer- 
cy*, offer us the least grounds for believing they 
will. 

But this is the all important question, we 
ask you to consider and be able to answer, 
viz : — Whether all men will or will not, by the 
means of grace and the power of God, be 
brought to be true christians ? Or in other 
words, Will all men, according to the scriptures, 
and consistently with the attributes, will, and 
government of God, be finally made pure and 
happy through Jesus Christ, or not ? 

Some we know think, or say they think, this 
to be a question of mere idle curiosity, while 
others esteem it an impious question which 
ought never to be started, especially in public ; 
but from both these classes of Christians, we 
are, after serious deliberation, compelled re- 
spectfully, but widely, to differ. 

Such, my brethren, is the importance of this 
subject, and such the deep and everlasting in- 
terest which we and the world have in its de- 
cision, that it becomes us reverently to pause — 
and seriously to consider, that if we may truly 
answer it in the affirmative, relative ourselves, 
it will present to our encouragement in duty, 
our comfort in affliction, and our hope in death, 
heaven — all that can constitute us happy. — 
But if we are compelled to answer it in the 
negative — O then ! how will the scene be 



AND ITS IMPORTANCE. 17 

changed ! to paralize the last resolve to virtue, 
to cast off the last hope of affliction, and to add 
eternal despair to the pains and anguish of 
death, there will be presented to the soul the 
horrors of the worm that never dies ! and 
the storm of vengeance that never ceases to 
rage ! — On one side of this question is all that 
hope, and heaven, and eternity, can offer to our 
enjoyment 5 and on the other, all that fear, de- 
spair, and ever-enduring and ever-increasing 
wo can inflict. Equally so is it with every 
friend of ours, and with every individual of the 
human race 5 if therefore any one of the vast 
family of man be eternally lost, it must not on- 
ly be the friend, parent, child, endeared to 
others by the ties of nature and mutual feelings, 
but it must be some one himself, to whom hap- 
piness is as dear as to ourselves — and whose 
aversion to sufferings is equal to our own. 
This thought should certainly cause us to take 
and feel a high interest in the true answer to the 
question, whether all will be finally virtuous 
and happy, or not, as well as whether we our- 
selves shall be saved or not. Yet in the exam- 
ination of this question, let us endeavour to lay 
apart all selfish interest which we have in its 
answer, while we further examine, not only its 
general importance, its importance in connexion 
with the character of God, of Christ, of the 
Scriptures, and of the morality, comforts, 

3 



18 QUESTION STATED, 

hopes, and devotion of mankind ; but also the 
evidences and arguments for and against it : that 
if possible we may decide it impartially, accord- 
ing to the force of truth and evidence. The 
affirmative of this subject, sheds a peculiar lus- 
tre on the character of Deity. — It represents 
him as having wonderfully and fearfully created 
and made of one blood, all the nations of the 
earth, for the noblest object, as having extended 
over them a father's tender and watchful care, 
and when they erred as children and became the 
miserable slaves of sin and death, he mercifully 
projected the scheme of redemption, which his 
grace and power shall, in due time, carry into 
the most complete execution. What can so 
much endear his government to his rational 
creatures, as for them to feel it is founded in in- 
finite goodness, and administered for the eternal 
and equal happiness of all its subjects ? What 
could so much endear him to them, as for them 
to know that he is love, and that all his ad- 
ministrations are equal and perfect goodness, 
resulting finally in their equal and everlasting 
welfare ? Every man should be taught that 
God is the all-gracious author of his being, the 
wise disposer of his fortune, and the unchanging 
friend of his happiness ; and of the peace and 
happiness of all others, no less than of their 
own ; then will they seek his protection, and 
delight in his service 5 then will they be desirous 



AND ITS IMPORTANCE, 19 

of imitating him, whom they are constrained 
equally to love and reverence for his goodness 
and greatness. 

Nor is this sentiment less important to the 
character of Christ ; it teaches that he came 
from heaven to be the compassionate friend and 
the all-sufficient Saviour of sinners, yea of a 
whole sinful and lost world — it teaches that he 
was impartial in his kindness, in his sympathy, 
and in his sufferings, having tasted death equally 
for every creature. So benignant was his 
whole ministry on earth, that no sinner 
could ever say he has neglected to warn me of 
the evil of sin on every proper occasion 5 that he 
ever neglected to sympathize in my sufferings, 
not only, but to relieve them by deeds of mercy 
and power such as man never did : or that he 
ever ceased by his words to pour the light of 
heaven on my benighted mind, or by the ener- 
gies of his spirit, to wake up in my soul the emo- 
tions of peaceful gratitude, and to enliven and 
strengthen the latent and trembling hopes of 
heaven in my heart, whenever I sought him. 
So just, and good, and gracious was Jesus to 
all, that there is no one who has not occasion to 
say of him, he is the chiefest among ten thou- 
sand, and altogether lovely. How different- 
ly would the character of our Lord have appear- 
ed had he come to call the righteous, but leave 
the sinner to perish — had he come to bless the 



20 QUESTION STATED, 

rich, but leave the poor to their destruction, or 
had he come to save the poor, but leave the rich 
to pass on the high way to eternal ruin ! Cer- 
tainly it must be for the honour of Christ that 
those whose duty and office it is to invite and 
persuade all men to come unto him and be saved, 
should feel authorized to say, unhesitatingly to 
say, to every and each of them, Jesus is really, 
and will prove himself to be your Saviour and 
Judge. 

If it be found that the holy scriptures con- 
tain a clear expression of the restitution of all 
things, attested by the united witness of all the 
holy prophets, and confirmed by the authority 
of Jehovah, it must greatly enhance the value 
of that sacred book in the estimation of every 
truly benevolent soul, and offer an increased 
motive to every man to become thoroughly ac- 
quainted with the rich treasures it contains. 
It does, or does not contain a revelation of sal- 
vation for the whole world, and equally true is it 
that it does, or does not contain salvation for me 
or you, and of the way by which we are to attain 
its possession ; for if it may not contain salvation 
for all, then it may not contain it forme or you. 
Then suppose we turn over its inspired pages, 
believing that they contain the awful record of 
eternal death for some the human race, and of 
course feeling that we are liable to meet there- 
in our own doom to never ending perdition, 



AND ITS IMPORTANCE. 21 

what, ask yourselves, what would be the anxie- 
ty and fearful suspense with which we should 
read ? Could we read it with the same ear- 
nestness and hope, the same interest and love 
that we should do if we felt assured that as soon 
as we become truly acquainted with it, and 
felt the power and virtue of its heavenly truths, 
we should be blessed and made wise unto salva- 
tion ? Would any one dig in a field for a trea- 
sure with as much faithfulness and perseverance 
upon uncertainty, as he would with the assur- 
ance, that by so doing, he should gain an inval- 
uable treasure of wealth and happiness ? Most 
certainly he could not. The bible will never 
be perused by all men, old and young, rich and 
poor, as it should be, and with the interest and 
feelings it ought, till they are invited thereto 
with affectionate concern by the ministers of the 
cross, and urged by the plenary assurance that 
they will find there that heavenly wisdom to 
guide them in duty, that rich solace in afflic- 
tion and that blessed hope of immortality, 
which can no where else be found — those re- 
wards for virtue, and those faithful warnings of 
evil ; that blessed panoply of light, and holy 
armour of God 5 and those testimonies of Jesus, 
and life giving words of Jehovah, which open 
to the soul beyond the dispensations of time 5 
the finished work of grace, the glories and 
joys of a paradise above, for themselves and 



22 QUESTION STATED, 

the world, no where else to be obtained but in 
this holy treasury of the Lord. When these 
views of the scriptures prevail, then will the 
books of infidelity be given up, the bible be 
read with the the purest delight, and the words 
of the Lord be sweet as in the days when 
Jesus spake, and they that heard were healed. 
But after all the sentiment under considera- 
tion is more immediately interesting to man as 
a moral, social, and devotional being. We 
cannot resist the persuasion that a morality 
founded on the principles above laid down, 
would be most pure and exalted ; and there- 
fore, most condusive to human happiness. The 
basis of morality, such as Jesus taught, is 
supreme love to God, and true benevolence to 
man ; and the fruits thereof in the conduct of 
life, is the morality itself. Now as like produ- 
ces like, will it not induce us to love God to 
know that he is good to us ; and strengthen that 
love, to know that he is equally good to all as 
to us ? And will it not also naturally produce 
in us a regard to the welfare of mankind to 
feel that they are all our brethren ; responsible 
to the same moral government ; bound to per- 
form to us the same duties that we are to them ; 
and with us destined to dwell forever in the 
blessed associations of celestial virtue and hap- 
piness ? The very fact that God will ultimate- 
ly deliver all from sin and suffering, proves that 



AND ITS IMPORTANCE. 23 

he will not allow us, with impunity, to inflict 
on any creature of his, through revenge or 
malevolence, the least degree of unjust or un- 
merciful sufferings 5 and is thus happily adapt- 
ed to restrain the vicious propensities of the 
sinful heart. 

What then tends so naturally to awaken the 
best feelings of our nature, both towards God 
and man, and to restrain the bad propensities of 
the soul, must as it prevails, exert a commanding 
and heavenly influence on the moral intercourse 
of the world, till society on earth shall resem- 
ble the blessed society of heaven. But we 
know, and are sorry for it, that it is by many, 
whom we respect for their piety and virtue, 
strenuously objected to this sentiment, that 
were it to prevail it would have an intirely dif- 
ferent effect on the moral feelings and conduct 
of men ; which will be considered, and an an- 
swer attempted, in its proper place. And in 
the interim, should any of you, my hearers, 
wish to try the case for your own personal satis- 
faction, you may for the sake of such trial, 
suppose society to be divided into two great 
classes, one of whom you know will be con- 
verted to Christ and reign with him forever 5 
the other will forever revile him and sink to 
endless perdition ; then ask yourselves if you 
could as sincerely sympathize in the present 
sufferings of one as of the other of those clas- 



24 



QUESTION STATED, 



ses, extend the hand of relief as warmly to the 
one as the other, and feel as sacred obligations 
to seek the perpetual good of the one as of the 
other ? And thus we are assured you will be 
able to decide for yourselves the relative influ- 
ence of the two schemes, viz. partial and uni- 
versal restoration ; and give the decided prefer- 
ence to the one under consideration. 

That this doctrine possesses a peculiar pow- 
er when cordially embraced by a strong faith, 
to " smooth the rugged path to life along a vale 
of tears," solace the mourner's heart when riven 
by the loss of its dearest earthly joys, and to 
cheer and strengthen the departing trembling 
soul, with the all-sustaining hopes of heaven, 
will not, cannot be doubted. O my God ! let 
us have its aid in misfortune's gloomy hour ; 
when bending over the sick, or waiting at the 
dying couch of kindred or of friends ; then 
may its balmy spirit gently bedew us ; but 
most of all when wearied and exhausted by 
sickness, we are called to tread the dark and 
gloomy valley, O then may its heavenly light 
shine about us, and drive from before us the 
soul-chilling gloom of death ! 

And lastly, strange as it may appear to some, 
we are constrained to view it of the highest 
importance to the exercise of true and elevat- 
ed devotion. This is by far the most difficult 
of all christian duties to perform 5 so imperfect 



AND ITS IMPORTANCE. 25 

are our views of our heavenly Father, so mis- 
taken our apprehensions of happiness, and so 
selfish and alienated are our feelings to our fel- 
low creatures by reason of sin, that we need 
much grace to aid us in giving ourselves whol- 
ly to the service of God, in the obedience of 
his word, and the cheerful and hearty perform- 
ance of all that various good we are capable of 
doing to our fellow men, not only to the good 
but the evil, and all for the Lord's sake. — Fear 
and dread of misery, here or hereafter, unas- 
sisted, can never produce it ; with these, if they 
exist, must be united the truth that enlightens 
and the grace that saves the soul from sin. 
What therefore can so effectually assist us in 
this pure and heavenly exercise as a belief that 
God in his infinite mercy is in Christ, and will 
fully reconcile all things to himself in perfect 
bliss ? We solemnly appeal to the believer in 
endless punishment, whether it be possible for 
him to feel as much devotion of heart when he 
prays for a sinner, feeling at the same time that 
that sinner will certainly go to perdition, as he 
does when he prays for one that he feels and 
hopes will be converted and made happy ! Let 
us now conclude this lecture by placing before 
us for our imitation in spirit at least, the bright- 
est example of devotion ever witnessed by or 
given to men — that exhibited by our Saviour 
at his death. A life of perfect virtue finished, 

4 



26 QUESTION STATED. 

he presents himself an offering to God— in view 
of the awful sufferings of the cross — says, not 
my will but thine be done — and as the crimson, 
cleansing, pardoning tide flowed from his 
hands, his feet, his temples, his side, his he#rt, 
in a love to his bitterest enemies stronger than 
death, he said with his expiring breath, father 
forgive, my death will conquer, and the vilest 
shall yet love thee. 

Before we advance the proofs of this doctrine 
to which we do sincerely attach such high im- 
portance, we shall out of respect to its opposers, 
notice and answer a few important objections. 
First, Some object to the truth of this senti- 
ment, because they think God has limited sal- 
vation by his decree — which presupposes eter- 
nal personal election and reprobation. — On this 
subject we shall treat the next evening. 



, 



LECTURE II. 



OBJECTION I. 



ROMANS XI. 5. 

EVEN SO THEN, AT THIS PRESENT TIME ALSO, THERE IS A 
REMNANT ACCORDING TO THE ELECTION OF GRACE. 

According to the proposal made the last 
evening, we are now assembled to consider the 
doctrine of election as the first, and by many 
supposed to be the most valid objection against 
the scheme of final and universal salvation. 
All must admit that if salvation be limited in 
its design, it must be so by the decree of God ; 
and that decree is by the objector called elec- 
tion. The bible, we cheerfully admit, contains 
the doctrine of election ; but not that view of 
it entertained by those who make it an objec- 



28 OBJECTION 



I. 



tion to our sentiments. We shall, therefore, for 
the sake of method, state the view and grounds 
of the objection, with our reasons for not ad- 
mitting them scriptural; and then give what 
we understand to be the bible view of election, 
by which it will appear that it favours rather 
than opposes the affirmative of the great ques- 
tion at issue. 

Preparatory to that statement, let it be ob- 
served, that election in whatever view we con- 
sider it, must be the unconstrained and free act 
of that great and good Being, whose perfections 
are infinite, and whose attributes extend equal- 
ly to all creatures of the universe ; and who 
being the perfect Father of the spirits of all 
flesh, and by the current voice of revelation 
and Providence, declared to be good and merci- 
ful to all his works, can be no respector of per- 
sons, nor have the least arbitrary and original 
preference for the happiness of one, or one part 
of his creatures over the others. 

Further be it remembered, that when God 
created man, he created him upright and holy, 
and pronounced him good ; at which time he 
must have loved him, and designed his happi- 
ness. Though the crown has fallen from the 
head of him that was thus created in honour, 
the gold become dim, and the most fine gold 
changed, and man without exception become 



OBJECTION 1. 29 

subject to vanity, sin, and death, yet God has 
not changed. 

And it is certain that if any are made truly 
happy, they must first, and that by their Maker, 
be restored to the spiritual, practical, and habit- 
ual purity in which they were at first created. 

Now under these circumstances, God being 
unchangeably good, and mankind equally sin- 
ners and equally unable to reinstate themselves, 
under these circumstances we ask, would it be 
reasonable for us to suppose that the Deity in the 
exercise of his favour for the recovery of lost men, 
would select some, and pass by and leave others 
to perish forever ? We appeal to you that are 
parents, could you so do among your own 
children in a similar case ? Nay, more, we ap- 
peal to you, if any such there are here, and we 
doubt there are many, who have felt the pow- 
er of divine grace kindling up in your souls 
the feelings of benevolence and concern for the 
eternal welfare of all mankind, such in some 
degree as the blessed Saviour felt when he 
left the bosom of the Father, and that which 
animated the holy apostles when they left 
wives and children, through persecution and 
death to preach the gospel to the world — would 
it be possible for you under the influence of 
the same spirit, to place before you the world 
of sinners, and then deliberately select those 



30 OBJECTION I. 

you would have redeemed to the exclusion of 
the rest ? 

Having brought the mind of the attentive 
hearer to feel the decision to which reason and 
christian feelings would lead us were we allow- 
ed to follow them, we shall now seek the ad- 
vice of the standard of truth, to which after all, 
we must all appeal, to the scriptures. 

In doing which, we shall, as already proposed, 
state the objection in its clearest light, that we 
may the better judge its true character. 

The doctrine of election, as understood by 
those who urge it as an objection to universal 
salvation, is this, viz: — The decree of God by 
which from all eternity he determined of his 
own good pleasure to select some of all nations 
for eternal glory, and appointed and made irre- 
sistably efficacious all the means of grace to 
effect that end, without the least reference to 
works done, or to be done, which necessarily 
implies the endless perdition of all the rest, and 
the certain inefficiency of all means apparently 
used for their salvation — in a word that God 
created some to be unconditionally, certainly, 
and endlessly happy, and the residue of man- 
kind to be unconditionally, certainly, and end- 
lessly miserable ? This doctrine has been sup- 
ported by St. Augustine and some others 
among the fathers, and strongly advocated by 
Calvin in that article of his institutes, Henry, 



OBJECTION I, 31 

Doddridge, the assembly of Divines at West- 
minster, and most of their followers in all ages 
down to the Orthodox of the present day. 
Some difference in modes of expressing it, and 
some variation in the manner of defending it 
have obtained, but the spirit, substance, and 
effect to be ultimately produced by it has been 
and is the same — nor do we see that it is at all 
possible substantially to alter it, without di- 
rectly or indirectly rejecting its truth. 

The leading points in this view are these : 
1. The object of election is eternal and always 
the same, though expressed by different terms 
in scripture, such as elect, choose, appoint, or- 
dain, will, &c. i. e. those who are elected or 
chosen are not elected to any office, tempo- 
rary good, or national distinction, but to eter- 
nal glory. 2. To this act of favour God was 
wholly self-moved, having no reference to the 
natural or moral qualities of the persons elect- 
ed. 3. The result of this election is in all ca- 
ses certain^ unconditional, and in no possible 
way, liable to be contingent in regard to any 
one individual of all the elect. 4. It necessa- 
rily includes by implication the everlasting and 
certain doom of all the non-elect to unceasing 
and inconceivable sufferings in eternity. The 
last of these points, however, more particularly 
distinguishes the adherents of this doctrine from 
all other religionists. 



32 OBJECTION I. 

Much as we are opposed in sentiment to this 
doctrine, we deem it but fair to acknowledge the 
slanderous saying, which has been often repeat- 
ed, viz: — that it admits men to heaven without 
reference to personal holiness, is a mistake ; 
for though God elected them without regard to 
their personal holiness or sinfulness, yet he 
does not, and will not admit them to heaven 
without their being first made perfectly and per- 
sonally holy ; and that by the means of grace 
provided in the gospel, and provided for all 
equally : yet it is equally just to remark that 
though the means of grace are general, they are 
not designed, and therefore, cannot in a single 
instance, prove effectual to salvation, save in the 
cases of the elect where they are certain to be 
so. 

In support of this doctrine there has been 
much subtile and metaphysical reasoning of 
talented school men employed ; but we shall 
here only notice a few of the prominent passa- 
ges of scripture, which have been mostly relied 
on for its authority. 

Our .text declares " there is a remnant ac- 
cording to the election of grace" — and verse 
7th, "the election hath obtained it." Rom. 
9. 11, 1£, 13.— St. Paul says, "the children 
not being yet born, neither having done any 
good or evil, that the purpose of God, accord- 
ing to election, might stand, not of works but 



OBJECTION I. 33 

of him that calleth. It was said unto her, the 
elder shall serve the younger. As it is written, 
"Jacob have I loved, but Esau have I hated." 
Also, the same author writing to the Ephesians 
says, i. 4, 5. — " According as he hath chosen 
us in him, before the foundation of the world, 
that we should be holy, and without blame be- 
fore him in love : having predestinated us unto 
the adoption of children by Jesus Christ to him- 
self, according to the good pleasure of his 
will." And again, 2d Thes. ii. 13. — " But we 
are bound to give thanks always to God for you, 
brethren, beloved of the Lord, because God 
hath from the beginning chosen you to salva- 
tion, through sanctification of the spirit, and be- 
lief of the truth." 

From these portions of the oracles of God, 
the advocates of eternal, personal election, and 
reprobation, appear to think the following con- 
clusions irresistable : 1. Those who are to be ad- 
mitted to heaven are a remnant. 2. They were 
from eternity selected and chosen from the rest 
of mankind. 3. That God loved the elect, and 
hated the non-elect from the beginning, as it 
appears plainly in the case of Jacob and Esau. 
4. Therefore he chose the elect because he free- 
ly and eternally loved them, and left or reprobat- 
ed the rest of the human race because he freely 
and eternally hated them, or disapproved of 
their salvation, and not at all on account of 

5 



34 



OBJECTION I. 



any works, good or evil ; for neither party had 
done good or evil at the time of their election. 
And 5. That the way by which he determined 
to save those he predestinated to glory, was by 
sanctification of the spirit, and the belief of the 
truth : all which was designed and will termi- 
nate for the glory of his infinite and free grace 
in Jesus Christ ; and therefore, the only hope of 
salvation is founded on election. 

Having stated the argument in favour of this 
view of election in its clearest and strongest 
light, we ask what objection is there to this in- 
terpretation ? To which we answer, it does 
not give the true and most obvious sense of the 
passages it professes to interpret. 1. The rem- 
nant preserved from idolatry in the days of Eli- 
jah, were not appointed exclusively of all others 
at that time, to have their names written in 
heaven ; but they were reserved in mercy to 
that rebellious people, as seed in the midst of 
them, though hid even from the eyes of the 
prophet, which should germinate and produce 
among them a harvest of true worshippers, to 
the living God. 

Also, the remnant left to that same people in 
the apostle's day, which Jesus says prevented 
their being entirely cut off like Sodom and Go- 
morrah, were so far from being appointed to 
the exclusive blessings of Christianity, that they 
were, in God's endless kindness to the world, 



OBJECTION t. 35 

reserved a faithful seed of Christ, from whom 
the word of the Lord should sound out, and by 
whom the true religion should be spread 
through the earth, till the fulness of the Gentiles 
should come to its obedience, and all Israel be 
saved. This is St. Paul's conclusion on this 
very subject of the remnant in his 11th Chap, to 
the Romans. 2. Being chosen in Christ, and 
made heirs of glory, carries not the idea of the 
eternal exclusion of all but themselves from sal- 
vation, but from the nature of the case implies 
the extension of the same choice to all others, 
which would appear on their conversion, as it 
had already appeared in the conversion of the 
christians at Ephesus and Thessalonia. 3. 
The love and hatred mentioned in the case of 
Jacob and Esau, to say nothing of the harsh- 
ness of the rendering, are not to be understood as 
positive but comparitive love and hatred, i. e. 
love to both, but a greater degree of it to one 
than the other, or a preference among friends, 
for instance, for a certain office. Our Saviour 
uses the language of love and hate in this sense. 
St. Luke, xiv. 25. — " If any man come to me, 
and hate not his father, and mother, and wife, 
and children, and brethren, and sisters, yea, 
and his own life also, he can not be my disci- 
ple." And John, xii. 25.— " He that loveth 
his life shall lose it ; and he that hateth his life 
in this world shall keep it unto life eternal." 



4 



36 



OBJECTION I. 



Now seeing that the scriptures undeniably 
teach us to love our kindred, and even our ene- 
mies, and by all allowable means to preserve 
our lives and theirs; it cannot have been the 
design of Jesus to teach an opposite doctrine, 
but only that while we sincerely and affection- 
ately love our relatives, we should, as disciples, 
love him with a still stronger and more devoted 
affection ; and that we should strongly prefer 
eternal life to our temporal life in this world. 

Again, the election mentioned in the case of 
Jacob and Esau, has no relation to their eternal 
state ; nor does it seem to relate to them per- 
sonally, but as the agents or fathers of two dis- 
tinct people or nations. The matter of this 
election was the choice of Jehovah that Christ 
should be given to the Israelites and not the 
Edonites 5 and as from necessity he must select 
and prefer one nation to all others for this pur- 
pose, so he chose that Jesus should be brought 
into the world by the posterity of Jacob, and 
not the posterity of Esau. In all this we see 
nothing like positive hatred or eternal reproba- 
tion of any person or people ; for God so loved 
the world that he gave his only begotten Son 
to be the light and Saviour of all the nations of 
the earth. 

We are also constrained to regard the above 
interpretation, or any other which can be given 
of those or other passages of God's word in 



OBJECTION I. 37 

favour of this view of election and repro- 
bation, as being opposed to those great and 
good rules of expounding scripture, which re- 
quire that we should so interpret every part, 
passage, doctrine, and duty of the bible, as 1, 
That the whole shall agree and be consistent 
with itself. 2. That it shall be consistent with 
the attributes and perfections of its Divine 
Author. 3. That nothing therein shall be re- 
pugnant to natural reason and equity. There- 
fore we cannot but object to the eternal reproba- 
tion of any of the human race as being entirely 
opposed to the declaration, and numerous other 
proofs God has given that he is not willing that 
any should finally perish — to the numerous calls 
and invitations to virtue and to glory which God 
has graciously given to all mankind — and to 
the spirit of the apostolic mission to preach the 
gospel of salvation to every creature. 

Lastly, we object to this as a scripture doc- 
trine, because we think it calculated most un- 
reasonably to discourage and drive, even into 
despair, beyond the reach of hope, the erring, 
weak minded, and scrupulous, who most of all 
need to be soothed in affliction, and encouraged 
to reform, and then to grow in grace daily. — 
Nor is this all ; — on the other hand it has a ten- 
dency to countenance the arrogant, and lift up 
with pride the presuming, and embolden the 
hardened hypocrite. 



38 OBJECTION I. 

Having stated and considered the view of 
election which is and has ever been adopted by 
genuine Calvinists, and noted the reasons why 
we think it not to be a scriptural doctrine, we 
shall now further only ask your attention to 
what we conceive to be the genuine doctrine of 
election, as taught in the bible. We first meet 
with this doctrine in the sacred pages, in the 
case of Abraham, who was separated from his 
people and his father's, house and chosen from all 
the families of the earth, to be the servant and 
the friend of God ; who called, appointed, and 
predestinated him to rear up and establish a 
house, kingdom, and priesthood, agreeably to 
the purpose and will of God, which should be 
distinguished from all other kingdoms and peo- 
ple, by the enjoyment of peculiar honours, titles, 
blessings, privileges, and the covenant of Jeho- 
vah. Here is both personal and national elec- 
tion — personal to Abraham, national to the 
Jews. Between personal and national election 
however, their is no difference in principle ; for 
personal election extended to a nation, becomes 
national. But to what were Abraham and the 
Jews elected ? Were they elected to eternal sal- 
vation, to the endless exclusion of all persons and 
nations but themselves ? By no means, they 
were elected to receive, preserve, and transmit 
the genuine worship of God, till the Messiah, 
the true seed to whom the promises were made, 



OBJECTION I. 39 

should come and dispense the same divine sys- 
tem of religion to the nations. Since the com- 
ing of Christ, and the calling of all nations to 
the service of God, and the blessings of his 
kingdom made by the gospel, all nations and 
people are and have been elected to similar du- 
ties, promises, and honours, to those before ex- 
clusively enjoyed by the Jews ; so that the call- 
ing and election of the Jews, and the divine 
dispensations towards them, were pledges of 
the infinitely kind and gracious design of Deity, 
to extend in the fulness of time, his great salva- 
tion to all mankind, in Jesus, the true seed of 
Abraham. And as a demonstration of their 
having been originally separated from the rest 
of the world, by an immediate revelation from 
heaven — of their having enjoyed the special 
care of a holy Providence, and been redeemed 
from Egypt, and Babylon, by the hand of the 
Most High — and also of the certain accomplish- 
ment of all the purposes of God, relative to them 
and the Gentiles, as a demonstration of this we 
say, they have for 1800 years, though dispers- 
ed, without either civil or ecclesiastical polity, 
persecuted and derided by the nations for their 
singularity, yet they have in the face, and to 
the utter astonishment of the world, remained a 
distinct and separate people, and will no doubt 
continue so to be, till the gospel of Jesus of 
Nazareth, whom they rejected and crucified, 



40 OBJECTION I. 

shall succeed in uniting both Jews and Gen- 
tiles, in one new and grand assembly of true 
worshippers ; and thus prove him to be the 
salvation of God to the ends of the earth. 

Election is often in the sacred writings ap- 
plied to the selection which God makes of cer- 
tain persons, for certain offices and duties. In 
this sense^ and in reference to his having been 
appointed to the ever blessed office of mediator 
between God and men, Jesus is proclaimed as 
the elect and chosen of the Lord. Isa. xlii. 
1. St. Mat. xii. 18. In like manner St. Paul 
and the other Apostles were chosen vessels, 
to bear the riches of the gospel to all nations 
and kindreds of men. Acts, i. 24, xxvi, 16. 
And St. John, xvii. 18. — and many other places. 
In this way also all true christians are elected 
and separated from the world by their faith, 
principles of action, and hopes of glory ; and 
are called not only to enjoy, but to exemplify by 
their conduct, and diffuse and spread by their 
exertions, the excellent principles, and rich 
blessings of Christianity, until the moral wilder- 
ness shall, beneath their genial influence, bud 
and blossom as the rose ; the whole earth be- 
come the garden of the Lord 5 and the nations 
of it be brought to feel and own that christians 
have been emphatically the salt that preserved 
them, and the light that spread around them the 
effulgence of heavenly bliss. Certainly my 



OBJECTION I. 41 

Christian hearers, this view of the bible doc- 
trine of election implies no eternal reproba- 
tion, but proves that it is the grand purpose 
of God to save the whole world ; and thus it 
strongly supports the benevolent sentiment of 
the final restitution of all things. The leading 
principle in this doctrine of election, is this, 
viz : — That the peculiarly elected, are so elect- 
ed for the benefit and salvation of those who 
are not, like themselves, specially elected. 

We have now, as we hope, succeeded in 
finding the true meaning of election, and 
shown that it does not oppose, but wonderfully 
favours the happiness of the world ; and, there- 
fore, seeing the mediation of Christ, the preach- 
ing and mission of the apostles, and the united 
influence of christians, and christian princi- 
ples and examples, are all directed by the will, 
and aided by the spirit and power of God, in 
establishing the universal empire of grace and 
of glory, who can doubt its accomplishment, 
to the praise of God, and the joy of angels ? 

But several voices seem to say in my ear, 
though we do not believe God has limited sal- 
vation by election, yet we do not believe in uni- 
versal salvation, because we think salvation to 
be conditional : Therefore, the conditionally of 
salvation will be pur theme the next evening. 

6 



LECTURE III. 



OBJECTION II. 



HEBREWS XII. 14. 

FOLLOW PEACE WITH ALL MEN, AND HOLINESS, WITHOUT 
WHICH NO MAN SHALL SEE THE LORD. 

However some men of proud and selfish 
feelings may spurn the idea, there is no true 
christian, could he be perfectly convinced the 
whole intelligent creation of God would be 
made eternally happy, consistently with the di* 
vine perfections and the rights of human agen- 
cy, that would not rejoice with joy unutterable 
at such a conquest over sin and death, such a 
triumph of the Redeemer's grace, and such 
a glorious display of infinite goodness, wis- 
dom, and power ; and that would not most cor- 



OBJECTION II. 43 

dially join the song of angels in acclamations of 
"Glory to God in the highest,and on earth peace 
and good will towards men." But there are 
many who suppose that by the gospel, salvation 
is truly and freely offered to all, upon such 
conditions as they can readily accept or reject 
as they please ; and that during what they term 
the day of probation, many will continue wil- 
fully to reject the terms of grace, and so by 
their own sinful neglect, come forever short of 
the great salvation set before us in Jesus 
Christ. 

This objection being made to our religious 
belief, not only by many persons, but by many 
of profound learning in theology, and of distin- 
guished piety and usefulness in the church of 
God, we shall now investigate its merits with a 
care becoming its importance, and he that hath 
ears to hear let him hear. 

The doctrine of the objection is asserted to 
have in its favour the most clear and unequiv- 
ocal authority of both reason and scripture. 

It is claimed to be perfectly reasonable, that 
the Deity should bestow salvation on his crea- 
tures by such conditions only as will perfectly 
secure his own glory, and as will promote and 
secure the obedience and perpetual happiness 
of all the subjects of his kingdom ; and such 
the conditions of salvation are averred to be, as 
will more fully appear by reference to the 



44 OBJECTION If 

scriptures on the subject. The objector as- 
serts, that the substance of his objection is very 
forcibly expressed in the text at the head of this 
discourse, where complete salvation is implied- 
ly offered to the sinner's acceptance, i. e. the 
blissful visions of God's presence and glory, are 
presented to our most enraptured imagination, 
but not without conditions, which are these : 
perfect holiness of heart and life. What can 
be plainer than that no one can ever see and 
enjoy God in his heavenly kingdom, except he 
first follow after holiness, and obtain it 5 which 
irresistibly proves that holiness is the only con- 
dition on which God can accept and save the 
sinner. 

The evangelical prophet Isaiah expresses 
the same sentiments in the most beautiful and 
familiar language, saying, " The willing and the 
obedient shall eat the good of the land" — which 
places it beyond controversy that the disobedi- 
ent and the obdurate shall never enter into the 
rest, nor taste the riches of that heavenly and 
better country sought by the righteous. And 
Jesus subscribes to the same opinion, when he 
$ays, " Blessed are the pure in heart, for they 
shall see God." If the impure in heart could 
have seen him also, would Jesus have thus 
spoken? Also, when St. John saw the most 
sublimated visions of the new heavens, and the 
new earth, and of the city of Jehovah, with 



OBJECTION II. 45 

those that shared its freedom, he exclaimed, 
" Blessed are they that do his commandments, 
that they may have right to the tree of life, and 
may enter in through the gates into the city. 55 

Not only these places, but much of the scrip- 
tures of both the old and new testament are sup- 
posed to establish the truth of the objection as 
clearly as the light of day shows us the objects 
that lie before us. But they also believe and 
affirm, that both Solomon, the wisest of the 
kings of Israel, and Jesus the Lord of the holy 
prophets, taught that the probation, or time, 
and only time, when these conditions could ever 
be accepted, is our day of life in this present 
world, 

Solomon exhorted the people of his time in 
such language as may with great profit, be oft 
repeated in our ears, i. e. u Whatsoever thy 
hand findeth to do, do it with thy might ; for 
there is no work, nor device, nor knowledge, 
nor wisdom, in the grave whither thou goest." 
And Jesus, in the 8th chapter of John, warns 
the Scribes and Pharisees saying, " I go my 
way, and ye shall seek me, and shall die in 
your sins : whither I go, ye cannot come : for 
if ye believe not that I am he, ye shall die in 
your sins." These two passages, and some 
others, are accounted sufficient authority for 
believing that the day of grace is limited to the 
period of the present life ; so that ail beyond is 



46 OBJECTION II, 

a night in which no work can be done, no 
means of grace enjoyed or improved. 

The objection thus fully and fairly stated in 
connexion with the scriptural authority alleged 
in its support, very naturally divides itself into 
two branches : 1. The condition. 2. The day 
of salvation. 

There are some christians who apply the doc- 
trine of the objection to the first covenant, 
otherwise usually called the covenant of works, 
but not to the second covenant, i. e. the cove- 
nant of God's free and all-sufficient grace in 
Christ Jesus. But as this view offers no objec- 
tion to our sentiments, we shall waive its further 
notice as irrelevant to the argument, and call 
your attention to the first branch of the objec- 
tion, the conditions or terms of salvation. 

The question now to be decided is this, viz. 
Is the salvation of the gospel conditional ? The 
only difficulty in the way of giving a plain an- 
swer to this plain question, grows out of the 
different senses in which the term condition has 
been used by different persons. Some for in- 
stance have used it for what must necessarily 
make uncertain, and limit the object to which 
it is applied 5 — for what is a valuable equivalent 
for the benefit received, as the terms of a con- 
tract are supposed to be equal in value to the 
object of it ; or for something to be perform- 
ed in our own strength ; and when performed 



OBJECTION II. 47 

to give us a meritorious claim to salvation. In 
this sense it has been employed by mere lega- 
lists, and perhaps inadvertently by some others $ 
and in this sense we consider it as both unscrip- 
tural and useless. It is unscriptural, because 
in the sacred writings salvation is every where 
represented to be the effect of the free and 
saving grace of God in a Redeemer, and not 
in the least degree the production of works, or 
of human merit. And to have offered salvation 
to sinners on the terms of their giving what 
may in any possible way be considered an equi- 
valent in value for it, would certainly have 
been offering it on such terms as could never 
have been accepted by any of those whom Je- 
sus declares to be wretched and miserable, 
and poor, and blind, and naked ■; and whom, 
therefore, he counsels to buy of him (i.e. with- 
out money and without price) never failing 
riches, and the pure and spotless robes of 
righteousness, that they may walk with the 
blessed, and dwell forever with the redeemed. 
Others apply this term to faith, repentance, 
and other christian duties, as being the means 
without which no one can be saved 5 giving 
to conditions the force and use of means only; 
in which sense we are not opposed to them, 
though on account of the abuse to which they 
are liable, we much prefer the word means. 
Because the means of salvation being appoint- 



45 



OBJECTION II. 



ed by infinite wisdom, and adapted to reclaim 
the world from sin, are so far from limiting 
salvation, or even rendering it uncertain, that 
they are the method by which God has made it 
certain in the counsels of his goodness, and by 
which, in his owntime 5 he will accomplish to his 
own everlasting praise, and the greatest possi- 
ble good of the universe. 

Before we proceed to show that the means of 
grace are sufficient to effect their most glorious 
end, the salvation of the world, we shall notice 
the other branch of the objection, viz. that all 
conditions or means of grace are limited to 
this life. That some of the means of grace 
are peculiar to this life we admit 5 but that all 
of them are, we see no cause to believe, but 
have many reasons for the opposite opinion. — 
So long and so deeply has this opinion been 
rooted in the minds of the greater part of Chris- 
tendom, that to oppose it, or call its truth in 
question, will probably be deemed by many a 
species of profanity. But our object is truth, 
regardless of all such considerations, though it 
be found with the few, and be contemned by the 
many. The great names that have supported 
it are fallible like other men, and the scriptures 
quoted above for its authority are far from be- 
ing conclusive. 

Solomon by bidding us to do with our might 
whatever our hands find to do, because there 



OBJECTION II. 49 

is no work, devise, wisdom, or knowledge in the 
grave, had reference to the temporal works, and 
social duties peculiar to the present world. 
This passage, therefore, might be as successful- 
ly quoted to prove there will be no conscious- 
ness of being beyond (not in) the grave, as that 
there will be no repentance felt, virtue ac- 
quired, or pardon obtained there. 

Nor does it appear from an attentive perusal, 
and a careful regard to the scope of what our 
Saviour says in the 8th of John, and the parallel 
places, that he designed to teach the Jews that 
after death there would be no possible method 
for their salvation ; but he seems rather to warn 
them that his peculiar mission to them as his 
own people, would soon close 5 that through the 
stubborness of their unbelief they would reject 
him, but after the Romans should besiege their 
city, and the woes denounced against them 
should threaten, they would then in vain seek 
deliverance by the appearance, not of himself, 
but of some false Messiah, and thus die in their 
sins ; and the opportunity they then enjoyed 
of entering in with Christ into his kingdom on 
earth, and of so following him to glory as the 
first fruits of grace would be lost by them for- 
ever. 

Had it been our Saviour V purpose by the 
words, " whither I go ye cannot come, 55 to pro- 
claim the endless seperation of the rulers and 

7 



50 



OBJECTION II. 



people of Israel from his heavenly kingdom, 
we cannot think he would have addressed the 
same language to his own disciples, saying, "As 
I said unto the Jews, whither I go ye cannot 
come; so now I say unto you. 55 John xiii. 33. 

Again, St. Paul, who certainly knew the 
mind of Christ, says of these very Jews, who 
were broken off for their unbelief, God is able 
to graft them in again, and the receiving of 
them shall be life from the dead 5 and so all 
Israel be saved. And to this agree the words 
of Jesus in another place, John xii. 32. "And 
I, if I be lifted up from the earth, will draw 
all men unto me." 

The spirit of what our Lord says on this sub- 
ject seems to us to be this, viz. no unbeliever, 
as such, can come to Christ either in the king- 
dom of his grace, or that of his glory ; that 
those who continued in unbelief and die in sin, 
as all do who die in unbelief, will continue to 
have the same inability they had while living ; 
and here he leaves the matter, but without 
the least indication that natural death, which is 
wholly a physical change, will make any moral 
or spiritual change in the condition of men, 
either for or against them. 

And if, as St. Peter assures us was the 
case, the gospel was preached after the death 
of Christ to those who lived and died in sin 
in the days of Noah, that they might be judged 



OBJECTION II. 51 

according to men in the flesh, but live accord- 
ing to God in the spirit 5 why should we 
count it strange that those who died in sin at 
Jerusalem should have extended to them equal 
means of final salvation ? 

The limitation of all means and methods of 
grace to the narrow span of this life, not only 
fails of a fair scripture support, but it is opposed 
to reason and equity 5 for if all means are 
limited to this world, there is a vast and glaring 
disproportion and partiality in their bestow- 
ment 5 some enjoying the clear day, and others 
sitting in the cold regions of night. 

Think what vast numbers of the heathen 
have lived and passed off the stage of life, 
without ever hearing so much as the name of 
Jesus 5 — think how many infants die even before 
they are able to lisp the mercy of Christ 5 — and 
how many there have been, and are, to whom 
nature has been so sparing in her gifts that 
their responsibility is a problem beyond our 
reach. 

Shall we at once turn all these to destruction 
without even the possibility of escape ? 

How much more reasonable is it for us to be- 
lieve that Christ, who is Lord both of the dead 
and living, will continue to use with all his 
creatures, in all conditions, the most appropri- 
ate means for their reformation, till all shall 



52 OBJECTION II. 

be subdued to him, and he resign his kingdom 
perfect to the Father. 

With both branches of this objection we 
have now done 5 and shall close the lecture by 
showing the strong probability there is of the 
truth of universal salvation from the fulness 
and efficiency of the means God has appointed 
for that end. 

Certainly if conditions have only the use of 
means, no one could object to them 5 but as 
in that case nothing but means would be 
intended, it would clearly be more simple, 
as well as more analogous to nature, to use 
the latter. The universe is a vast assemblage 
of means and ends. God employs means for the 
display of his own perfections ; and by them 
carries on the kingdom of nature, providence, 
and grace. Think of the vast number of 
means which must be employed by the Creator 
to effect the next eclipse of the sun, and with 
what minute exactness they must each operate 
to the same end. How countless are the 
means employed in the changes and government 
of the seasons, and the alterations of day and 
night. 

When the Lord marked Jerusalem, Nine- 
veh, or the old world, for destruction, no means 
to effect those astonishing events were wanting ; 
nor when he would redeem his people from 
bondage in Egypt, or from captivity in Baby- 



OBJECTION II. 53 

Ion. But while these events were accomplish- 
ed by the most perfect cooperation of such 
extended assemblages of instruments, others, 
perhaps, of no less importance, were apparently 
accomplished by single, or at least, a much 
more limited number. Thus, when in later 
times he would favour the world with a most 
wonderful improvement in the science of as- 
tronomy, he sent a Newton to measure the 
spheres, number the stars, and note their move- 
ments — and it was done. And when in his 
good pleasure he would give independence to 
the favoured descendants of the pilgrims, he 
gave a Washington to their armies 5 an Adams, 
a Jefferson, and a Franklin to their counsel ; 
and a rich inheritance was theirs. 

But when God would exhibit the glories of 
redemption, he sent his only begotten Son to be 
the Saviour of the world ; and a glory above the 
brightness of the sun in the firmament beamed 
along the shores of death. 

Jesus, also, in the amazing and benignant 
transactions of his mission on earth, honoured 
and employed means, simple means, in their ac- 
complishment. The apostles, and faithful fol- 
lowers of Christianity, by the gentle, yet pow- 
erful and heavenly methods appointed by their 
master, in a few years, and against a most 
powerful and cruel opposition, established and 
triumphantly spread the gospel through many 



54 OBJECTION II. 

nations of the earth ; so that for it now to 
become the universal religion of the world 
within two centuries to come, would not be 
more surprising than that it spread as far as it 
did in the three first. Such an event is believ- 
ed by most christians, and is very susceptible 
of proof by the scriptures. Consider how 
many and how powerful must be the means 
that shall unite the Jews and the Gentiles in 
faith, in friendship, and in good works ; and 
yet the bible asserts, with peculiar force, that 
this shall be done. 

Now if there be means of grace sufficient to 
fill the earth with a millenium glory ; unite all 
nations in Christ, and perfect them in holiness, 
that they may see God and live forever ; why 
should it be thought more difficult for the Deity 
to bring those of every age to see and enjoy 
his heavenly kingdom, than to bring all of a 
particular age ? seeing the dead also are his, 
and when he will he can restore them to life, 
to holiness, and heaven. To conclude, if the 
united means of grace and power in the hands 
of Jesus be sufficient for the salvation of the 
world, as we think is very apparent from the 
consideration of their spirituality, variety, and 
efficiency when directed as they are by infinite 
wisdom, then it follows, that the method God 
has chosen by which to impart salvation to his 
creatures, can never limit, or make it uncer- 



OBJECTION II. 55 

tain to any ? but must tend to spread and per- 
fect it, till heaven and earth shall be full of its 
praise. 

I cannot close without remarking, that it 
would be a most gross abuse of this doctrine 
for any one to say, or attempt to argue, that 
because God has appointed sufficient means 
for the restoration of all men to purity and 
happiness, and because those means will, in 
the hands of moral agents, prove successful 
during the reign of the Messiah 5 therefore, there 
is no need of our using them, and so we may 
with impunity neglect our moral, social, or 
religious duties, under the pretence that our 
salvation is sure. We know that it is the 
perfection of the gospel salvation that it is sure, - 
but it is no more sure than are the means used 
by Christ to procure it, and also those to be used 
by us for its attainment. While we neglect or 
refuse to use them, we can never expect to be 
happy in ourselves, or good examplers to 
others ; for none but enthusiasts and immoraL 
characters ever refuse to improve the means 
recommended by the gospel. On the other 
hand, what an encouragement does this senti- 
ment give to every reasonable and good man, 
to try in good earnest to hear the gospel, read 
the scriptures, meditate on heavenly things, 
watch his heart, seek christian conversation, and 
also to hold communion with heaven by prayer 



56 OBJECTION II. 

and praise ; knowing that by this method he 
shall promote his best interest on earth, and 
be ripening for glory 5 and though but an hum- 
ble servant, he will also be a coworker together 
with Christ the Lord, who by the light of his 
word, the blessed influence of his spirit, and 
the power of the resurrection, will happily 
succeed in bringing the world to see God, and 
enjoy him forever. 

It may be said by some, though there can 
be no decree or condition shown to limit salva- 
tion, yet if God has declared that some shall 
suffer eternal misery, then of necessity all can- 
not be saved. In the next lecture, therefore, 
we shall, if God permit, respectfully, but fear- 
lessly, examine the objection of endless misery. 



LECTURE IT. 

DURATION OF PUNISHMENT CONSIDERED. 

*»>►©©€««•*-' 

GENESIS XVIII. 25v 

SHALL NOT THE JUDGE OF ALL THE EARTH DO RIGHT ? 

The question to be considered this evening, is not 
whether there will be endless, or no future punish- 
ment? nor whether future punishment will termi- 
nate in annihilation, or be extended without end ? 
— but this is the question, whether future punish- 
ment will be endless, or limited in degree and du- 
ration, according to the character of the impeni- 
tent, and so result in their restoration to happi- 
ness ? This is a momentous question — one of 
the most intense interest to the character of God 
and religion— one, which has engaged the gravest 

attention of the wisest and best of men, in ancient 

8 



58 DURATION OF 

and modern times — and one, which has justly 
claimed and received the profoundest investigation; 
for upon its answer depends an eternity of joy or 
of grief, for myriads of the human race. This is 
not, properly speaking, a sectarian question, i)ut 
one in which we are all deeply concerned ; and 
therefore it merits the most serious treatment, and 
our most prayerful consideration. 

Punishment, either limited or unlimited, presup- 
poses the existence of a Ruler ; of laws, and of 
subjects, who are capable of knowing the laws, 
and doing the will of the ruler. Therefore to 
judge of the punishment, we must be acquainted 
with the character of the Lawgiver, the nature of the 
laws, and the capacity and circumstances of the 
subjects. 

The character of God, as seen in his works, is 
most glorious. The creation around us is a mir- 
ror in which we behold "his eternal power and 
Godhead." The lofty mountain, the extended 
plain, the starry heavens and the mighty deep, 
give but a faint idea of his immensity ; the move- 
ments of the heavenly bodies, the revolutions of 
the earth, and the change of the seasons, all pre- 
serving such perfect order, and resulting in the 
production of so much good to the universe, are 
but faint illustrations of his wisdom ; and the 
cheering influences of the sun, the salubrity of 
the air, and the productions of the earth and sea, 



PUNISHMENT. 59 

sustaining and blessing such countless myriads of 
various beings, are but the smallest proofs of his 
goodness. But when we think of the power that 
gave being to the universe, and the discernment 
that reads the heart, and sees the end from the 
beginning ; the mind, overwhelmed with reverence 
and wonder, unites with the sacred writers, in as- 
cribing to him the attributes of eternity, omnipo- 
tence, and infinity, and also, the perfections of 
knowledge, wisdom, and goodness. His natural 
relations to man are those of Creator, Benefactor, 
and Judge ; and thus far at least, he is the same 
to every human creature, and they are the same 
to him ; for having created them all of < c one blood ," 
he can be "no respecter of persons. 5 ' And hence, 
as the Judge of all the earth, he cannot but do 
right. # 

The law, by which we are to regulate our con^ 
p!uct, as the subjects of this Supreme Ruler, is re- 
velation, without which we should never have 
been able to merit from him either praise or blame ; 
for nature and the works of God, unassisted by 
the light of revelation, could never have taught 
us the divine will in regard to our relative duties 
to each other, or the worship to be offered to him, 
much less could it have furnished those powerful 
motives to obedience, drawn from a future state. 

The chief designs of revelation are the glory of 
God, and the good of men; and its principal top- 



60 DURATION OF 

ics, the display of the divine perfections, the de- 
claration of the divine will, and the discovery of 
the motives to its performance. 

Its doctrines in reference to Deity, to the ori- 
gin and destiny of human nature, to the present 
and future state, together with the method of pre- 
paration for an advancement to eternal life, are 
most rational, pure, holy and sublime. Its pre- 
cepts are most benevolent, just, and suited to pro- 
cure for their author the greatest praise, and for 
men the greatest personal and social happiness. 
The promised rewards to faith and virtue, being 
according to our honest designs and real good 
works, are happily calculated to advance us by de- 
grees in the attainment of perfection ; and the 
ihreatenings to unbelief and vice, being also pro- 
portioned to our voluntary assent to their influ- 
ence, and being emendatory in their design, must 
have a constantly increasing tendency to banish 
■such feelings and habits from human society. And 
thus it is the manifest design and tendency of 
God's holy government in all its administrations, 
to produce righteousness in the hearts and lives of 

men. 

i 

To be subjects of such a government, founded 
on principle and extended by moral suasion, men 
must be moral and free agents, i. e. they must be 
capable of understanding the general scope of 
revelation, the practical influence of its doctrines 



PUNISHMENT. 61 

and precepts, and of feeling a conscious obligation 
and ability to perform them. The sacred scrip- 
tures therefore must be virtually their own exposi- 
tor to every man who searches them prayerfully ; 
and he who does thus search them, must know 
what the Lord doth require of him, and what it is 
right for him to do or not to do ; and he must also 
have the power of sincerely aiming to perform 
what he thus knows to be righ-t, or he can be no 
subject of conscious desert, and of course no sub- 
ject of moral government. 

With this view before us of the character of 
God, the general nature and design of his moral 
government, and of the capacity of men to learn 
and do his will, we may form a just idea of hu- 
man accountability, and of the nature of that pun- 
ishment ordained for the disobedient and the sin- 
ner. It has been a question whether the punish- 
ment of the wicked is local, that is, whether it 
will be produced by the place occupied by the suf- 
ferer, rather than from his character, and so be in- 
separable from the place ? The locality of punish- 
ment has been asserted and defended by very 
many persons of piety and talents, and rejected by 
others of equal learning and worth. Among the 
latter, are St. Origen and St. Augustine, and sev- 
eral of the Fathers ; Calvin, w 7 ith many others of 
later times ; and by far the greater part of iatelli- 



62 



DURATION OF 



gent christians of the present day. With these 
we concur in the opinion that hell is a state or con- 
dition of sinners in a future world, rather than a 
place, for the reasons that follow. First, it does 
not appear that any such place was created, when 
all things visible and invisible were made and pro- 
nounced good. Secondly, that if such a place had 
been created for the punishment of all sinners who 
die in impenitency, it would not have appeared 
how they could have been therein severally pun- 
ished according to their respective works ; as all 
in that case would have suffered the infliction of 
the same Sufferings. Third, the scripture account 
of it, cannot well be understood otherwise than 
metaphorically. And fourth, because the punish- 
ment of sinners will consist, according to the scrip- 
tures, in a sense of the loss of the divine favor, 
loss of the pleasures of innocence ; and also of con- 
scious guilt for having abused divine goodness, and 
betrayed into ruin their more innocent fellow crea- 
tures. 

From this course of reasoning, we arrive at the 
satisfactory conclusion, that although the sinner 
must necessarily occupy a place suited to his na- 
ture and mode of being while he suffers, yet that 
his sufferings will not proceed from the place, but 
the state of his character; and consist in a sense 
of shame, regret, remorse, arid fear, inflicted by 
the righteous Judge of all, upon the awakened 
conscience. „ 



PUNISHMENT. 63 

There is therefore nothing in the character of 
the Judge, the requirements of the law, the cir- 
cumstances of the agent, or the nature and ten- 
dency of the punishment, which would necessari- 
ly or naturally incline us to the belief that it will 
be endless ; but much that leads us to the contra- 
ry opinion. And hence, if the endless duration of 
hell torments can be supported, it must be by the 
clear and express language of revelation. 

Here, let us observe, that such is the impor- 
tance of the doctrine, such the awful consequences 
of unceasing woe, that if it were contained at all 
in the sacred scriptures, we should expect to find it 
expressed in the most unequivocal terms, and those 
repeated by each of the sacred writers, and in 
every book, if not in every chapter of the bible, 
and to see it holding a most conspicuous place in 
every creed and summary of christian faith, drawn 
up by the primitive and early followers of Christ. 

And yet, judging from the habit of some mod- 
ern preachers, we shall upon examination be sur- 
prised to find how sparing the sacred penmen 
have been in the use of such phrases in connexion 
with punishment, as have been supposed to mean 
endless ; for instance, the words everlasting and 
eternal, which are by no means the strongest terms 
to express duration, they could have chosen. 
These words occur only twice in relation to suffer- 
ings, in all the old testament. They are employ- 



64 DURATION OF 

ed but three times by St. Matt, and only once in the 
gospel of St. Mark. They are sought for in vain 
in the gospel of St. Luke, and in all the accounts 
given by him of the early preaching of the apos- 
tles, in the book of Acts. St. John neither uses 
them in his gospel or his epistles ; and everlasting 
occurs but once in all the writings of St. Paul, 
which make so considerable a part of the new tes- 
tament, and then it is everlasting destruction, and 
there is no mention made of everlasting or eternal 
punishment, in the Epistle of St. James, or in 
those of St. Peter. Not only have most of the 
authors of the sacred writings wholly omitted, and 
the rest of them been thus sparing in the use of 
those terms supposed to be expressive of the 
proper eternity of punishment in a future state; 
but it is a fact worthy of notice, that the doctrine 
of endless sufferings is not found in any summary 
of christian faith, collect, or creed, drawn up by 
christians in the early ages of the church. The 
Apostles creed, for instance, does not enjoin the 
belief of, or require the assent of christians to the 
sentiment. Now, if as some suppose, the belief 
of this doctrine be so essential to the christian 
character, that he who rejects it cannot be a 
christian ; how are we to account for its entire 
omission in this confessedly .ancient and short 
summary of the fundamental articles of the christ- 
ian faith, adopted by those who were best ac- 



PUNISHMENT. 65 

quainted with genuine and primitive Christianity? 
Nor is this all ; the opposite doctrine of the 
Universal Restoration, advocated by many of the 
fathers, was never censured by any act of the 
Christian Church until the close of the 4th cen- 
tury, arid never rejected, till the meeting of the 
fifth general council, by whom it was for the first 
time, with some other sentiments, anathematized 
as a damnable heresy, and that rather on account 
of the sentiments associated with it, than for its 
own sake. These circumstances and facts con- 
nected with the history and character of future 
punishment, are mentioned, not as containing posi- 
tive proof of the falsity of endless sufferings ; but 
as throwing light on the general subject of our 
present inquiry, and making it certain that the 
doctrine of a limited punishment to be succeeded by 
an universal restoration, was advocated by many, 
and tolerated by the whole body of christians for 
a long time, and that, while the Church was the 
most pure. And if this sentiment, as w r e suppose, 
was believed by the apostles, and therefore they 
used the term everlasting and eternal in a limited 
sense, then we are not to wonder that these terms 
were entirely omitted by some, and used so seldom 
by others ; for in that case, they would use them 
as being perfectly synonymous with all those 
modes and forms of expression frequently used by 

each and every one of them, to enforce a sense of 

9 



66 DURATION OF 

human accountability, and an apprehension of be- 
ing judged according to the deeds done in the 
body. And hence, these words in the cases above 
alluded to, mean no more than that every man 
must give an account of himself to God, and be 
rewarded according to his works ; a doctrine 
taught with equal force and clearness by our 
Lord, his apostles, and the holy prophets, who 
have also spoken of the "restitution of all things/' 
and all in perfect consistency. 

Waving further remarks, having noticed the 
question of the locality of punishment, let us now 
give our attention to the more important inquiry 
of its duration, and consider the grounds urged by 
those who advocate its strict eternity. The prin- 
cipal grounds relied upon for its support, are three, 
the scriptures, justice, and reason. We come to 
this work with perfect respect for the sincerity, 
piety, and learning, of those from whose views we 
freely use the liberty of dissenting, in the charita- 
ble exercise of the christian rights of private judg- 
ment. 

As a fair specimen of the scriptural authority for 
the sentiment, take the following ; Isa. 66 : 24. 
St. Mark 9 : 43, 44. "And they shall go forth, 
and look upon the carcasses of the men that have 
transgressed against me, for their worm shall not 
die, neither shall their fire be quenched ; and they 
shall be an abhoring unto all flesh." "And if thy 



PUNISHMENT. 6.7 

hand offend thee, cut it off: it is better for thee to 
enter into life maimed, than having two hands to 
go into hell, into the fire that never shall be 
quenched ; where their worm dieth not and the 
fire is not quenched." 

The prophet in describing the future and coim- 
plete triumph of the true worship of God, the en- 
tire overthrow of idolatry, and the punishment of 
idolators ; represents the worshippers of idols inlsr- 
rael and elsewhere, after their defeat and the total 
loss of their cause, as being thrown into the valley 
of Hinnom, a place on the east of Jerusalem, ren- 
dered extremely odious to the Jews by its being 
once the seat of the idol Moloch, where the ab- 
horrent, cruel, and impious spectacle, of innocent 
children passing through the fire for his pleasure 
and in sacrifice to him, was for a long time to be 
seen ; and there too these impious Israelites, idola- 
tors, and monsters of cruelty, are to be looked 
upon as being consumed by the worm that never 
shall die, and tormented by the fire that never 
shall be quenched. And our Lord forewarned his 
followers that it would be better for them to deny 
themselves the enjoyment of advantages, gains and 
pleasures, dear to them as a right hand, eye, or 
foot, provided they led them to offend against the 
gospel, than to enjoy them here, and thereby bring 
upon themselves the punishment of a future state, 
expressed by the lively and strong metaphors of 



68 DURATION OF 

the fire, and worm, used by the prophet. For 
the better understanding of these metaphors, let it 
be remarked that the valley of Hinnom was subse- 
quently to the days of the prophet, and in the 
times of our Saviour, used as a place of punish- 
ment in which men were burnt alive, or cast there 
to be consumed by worms ; and that the worm and 
the fire are the two agents, by whom the bodies of 
those men are consumed. Both are therefore used 
by Christ and the prophet as figurative expressions 
to denote the punishment of the wicked in a future 
state. By the repeated assertion that the worm 
shall not die, we learn that it will not be interrup- 
ted in the consumption of the body on which it 
preys, until it hath completed its work. The fire 
is unquenchable by those who are cast into it, and 
shall not be extinguished by any other ; and hence 
it will certainly accomplish the object for which it 
was kindled. 

Those who understand these metaphors in any 
other light than this, seem not to have examined 
this subject, for in the valley of Hinnom the worm 
died when its food failed, and the pile on which 
human sacrifices were burnt to Moloch was often 
extinguished. Newcome. 

That the phrase unquenchable fire , upon which 
so much stress is always laid in the argument for 
endless misery, does not, in its scripture use, de- 
note a fire which shall never cease, is most certain. 



PUNISHMENT. 69 

us will appear by reference to the following passa- 
ges. Lev. 6, 13. Isa. 34, 9—11. Jer. 17, 27. 
and Ezek. 20, 45—48 ; and others. Wherein 
Jehovah declares the fire shall ever be burning 
upon the alter, it shall never go out ; that he will 
kindle a fire in Jerusalem, which shall never be 
quenched ; that every green tree and every dry 
tree in the beautiful forests of the south shall be 
consumed, and the flaming flame shall not be 
quenched ; and that the streams of Bozrah shall 
be turned into pitch, and its dust into brimstone, 
and the land thereof become burning pitch ; and it 
shall not be quenched night nor day. Now 
although the fire was never permitted to go out 
upon the altar of God, while that alter stood ; yet 
with the overthrow of the altar, the fire ceased. 
And notwithstanding the devoted inhabitants of 
Jerusalem could not quench the fire that consum- 
ed their Temple, city, and adjacent country, and 
therefore by them the fire was unquenchable, yet 
having accomplished the destruction of these ob- 
jects of their solicitude, it has ages since been ex- 
tinct. 

Hence, the metaphorical representations of fu- 
ture punishment derived from Gehenna, contains 
no proofs of the unceasing duration of that punish- 
ment, nor does the connexion or scope of the pas- 
sages before us, from our Lord or his prophet, re- 
quire us so to understand them. 



70 DURATION OF 

The next authority which we propose to consid- 
er, is the oft repeated assertion of our Saviour, St. 
Matt. 25, 46. 'These shall go away into everlast- 
ing punishment, but the righteous into life eternal.' 
The strength of the argument from this passage, 
if indeed there be any strength in it, is drawn from 
the meaning of the term everlasting, assumed to 
be that of endless ; and its application to the hap- 
piness of the righteous as well as to the misery of 
the wicked, and that in the same passage, by way 
of an antithesis. 

This term, together with those of eternal, forew 
er, and forever and ever, are confessed to be of 
the same meaning, and to be translated from words 
of the same stock, in the Hebrew of the old, and 
the Greek of the new testament. What that mean- 
ing is, has occasioned much inquiry and discussion, 
which have resulted in the concession that in the 
scriptures they are sometimes applied to things of 
interminable perpetuity, and sometimes to things 
which endure for a long time, for an indefinite pe- 
riod, which is all we ask. This concession has 
been made by the ablest writers, who are at the 
same time advocates for the infinite perpetuity of 
punishment, and therefore would never have yield- 
ed this ground, but from the force of the clearest 
conviction. Dr. Adam Clarke, and the late Presi- 
dent Edwards, in their writings, agree with pro- 
fessor Stuart, that these terms denote a limited 



PUNISHMENT. 71 

period when applied, as they often are by the sa- 
cred writers, "to the Jewish Priesthood ; to the 
Mosaic ordinances ; to the possession of the land 
of Canaan ; to the hills and mountains ; to the 
earth ; to the time of service to he rendered by a 
slave ; and to many other things of a like nature." 

Let it not be supposed that we advocate the lim- 
ited or finite meaning of everlasting, chiefly on ac- 
count of its favorable influence upon the doctrine 
of the restoration ; for if it were not understood 
thus, it would be impossible to reconcile the old 
and new testament together, and to harmonise the 
scriptures. If the everlasting priesthood of Aaron 
had been endless ; it could never have been suc- 
ceeded by the priesthood of Christ, which was af- 
ter the order of Melchisedeck. If the everlasting 
ordinances of the law had been of unceasing per- 
petuity and force, they could never have given 
place to the more simple and spiritual institutions 
of the Gospel ; nor if everlasting punishment be 
endless, can it ever be followed by the "restitution 
of all things" as promised by the holy prophets. 

Now if as thus admitted, and for such good 
reasons, the term everlasting be sometimes used 
to denote a limited period ; then it can never in 
any case, of itself, prove any thing to which it is 
applied to be interminable, and therefore it does 
not prove the punishment of the wicked to be 
such. To make this clear, let us take the excel- 



72 DURATION OF 

lent rule given by the Editor of Brown's Diction- 
ary of the Bible, for understanding the words eter- 
nal, everlasting, and forever. " These words must 
be understood according to the nature of the sub- 
ject concerning which they are used, and accord- 
ing to the connection of the places in which they 
occur." By this rule it appears that we are nev- 
er to admit everlasting as meaning endless, except 
the subject concerning which it is used, be known 
to be endless in its own nature, or proved to be so, 
by something else. Now punishment is not end- 
less in its own nature ; therefore everlasting, appli- 
ed to it in the text, does not prove it to have that 
meaning. 

To prove that the punishment in the text, is 
not in its nature endless, let it be noted that the 
word rendered punishment signifies chastisement, 
or correction, such as parents use with their child- 
ren, hence it tends to exhaust the source from 
whence it springs, and aids the restoration of the 
sufferer, and hence the passage before us, awful as 
it sounds to the ear, is rather a proof of the hy- 
pothesis of the universal restoration, than of the 
opposite sentiment. 

Again it has been urged in favor of the perpetui- 
ty of punishment, that it is placed over against the 
happiness of the righteous antithetically, and that 
the duration of the happiness of the one, and the 
punishment of the other, are expressed by the 



PUNISHMENT. 73 

same term ; and therefore that if everlasting means 
endless in one case, it means equally so in the 
other. To this it may be answered, that it ap- 
peared to be rather the object of our Lord to pre- 
sent to the view a contrast of the general subjects 
of happiness and misery, than to prove their equal 
duration ; and therefore he employed an indefinite 
term to denote their continuance, leaving us to 
form such opinions of the duration of the one and 
the other, as the Scriptures authorise us to enter- 
tain. 

When we consider to how many different sub- 
jects the word everlasting is applied in the sacred 
volume, and how many different and at the same 
time indefinite periods of time it is employed to 
denote ; we certainly shall not think it strange 
that Christ applied it to the misery of the wicked, 
and to the happiness of the righteous. Nor can I 
see the least reason or necessity for supposing it to 
have the same meaning in the two cases. The 
subjects with which it is connected differ in every 
other respect, and why should we think them of the 
same duration ? Again, the word everlasting does 
not govern the character of the subject to which it 
is applied, but the character of the subject governs 
its meaning, as so applied. 

If for instance, forever be applied to the exist- 
ence of God, it means without beginning and with- 
out end, because he is without beginning of days 

10 



74 DURATION OF 

or end of life ; but if the same word be applied to 
the time a Jewish servant was required to serve 
his master, it means merely as long as he should 
live. How very different are the meanings of this 
same word in these two cases ; and from what 
does that difference arise ? Answer, from the 
great difference between the subjects of its appli- 
cation, the Deity and the slave. What can be 
more different than are happiness and misery ? 
The one originates with God, the other in the sin- 
fulness of men ; why then should they be alike 
enduring, seeing God delights in the one, but takes 
no pleasure in the other ? It will avail nothing to 
say that everlasting is connected with future hap- 
piness and misery, and that in the same verse ; and 
therefore it must mean as long in the one as the 
other case. 

There is a similar case of the same word being 
applied twice in the same sentence to different 
things, and having two very different imports. 
Hab. 3. 6 : "And the everlasting mountains were 
scattered, and the perpetual hills did bow; his 
ways are everlasting!" yet who from seeing in 
this passage that everlasting is in the same sen- 
tance applied to the mountains and to the ways of 
God, could reasonably conclude that the ways of 
God and the mountains will be of the same dura- 
tion, when the one must from the very nature of 
the case continue strictly to eternity, and the oth- 



PUNISHMENT. 75 

er can stand only for a limited time being destined 
to be brought low ? 

We come then to this conclusion, that the wick- 
ed shall be punished according to their deserts, 
and the righteous rewarded according to the 
laws of Christ's kingdom ; and that there is nothing 
in the nature or circumstances of the case, which 
requires us to attach to the term everlasting, as ap- 
plied to punishment in St. Matt. 25, 46, the idea 
of endless. Should it be thought that by this con- 
clusion we leave the happiness of the righteous 
without sufficient proofs of its endless continuance ; 
as from the above reasons some persons may choose 
to say that future happiness is not in its nature in- 
terminable, and therefore everlasting when applied 
to it does not mean endless, and this being the 
strongest proof of its durability, it may come to an 
end as well as misery, — to this it may be replied, 
that the most conclusive proofs of the eternity of 
future happiness, are not found in the application 
of everlasting or any other term, used in the scrip- 
tures to express the duration of punishment ; and 
for two reasons, first because there are stronger 
terms used in connection with happiness, than 
are found connected with misery, and second, be- 
cause other circumstances show it to be endless. 

1. God declares that the righteous shall not be 
confounded world without end ; that the saints 
have in heaven an inheritance incorruptible ; that 



76 DURATION OF 

they cannot die any more ; for they are equal unto 
the angels ; and that they shall have afar more ex- 
ceeding and eternal weight of glory. See Isa. 45, 
17. — 1. Pet. 1, 4.— St. Luke 20, 36.-2. Cor. 4, 
17. Where in all the bible is it said of the 
misery of the wicked, that it shall be endless, or 
continue world without end, or that the weight 
thereof is far exceeding eternal, as it is here affirm- 
ed of the happiness of the redeemed ? But second, 
we depend not so much on these and many other 
equally strong expressions and forms of speech, 
made use of to denote the permanency of the 
saints' felicity, (but are never applied to misery) 
as we do upon their union to Christ; so that 
while he lives, they shall continue in happy life ; 
for Christ is made Priest by the power of an end- 
less life, and he says to his disciples, because I live 
ye shall live also ; therefore when we see him we 
shall be like him, for we shall see him as he is. 
And again, their happiness and life in heaven 
flows from the infinite source of goodness as its 
fountain, and hence it can never cease ; but this 
can never be said of misery and death. 

Our Lord'^ remark concerning Judas, the un- 
happy man who betrayed him, St. Matt. 26, 24; 
'it had been good for that man if he had 
not been born,' has been supposed to furnish an 
argument for the endless misery of the wicked. 

To this it is sufficient to reply, that this language 
of Christ is proverbial ; and that such a tremen- 



PUNISHMENT. 77 

dous doctrine cannot be supposed to be founded 
on the solitary use of a Jewish proverb. The im- 
port of this saying seems to be this, that his pun- 
ishment would be more than a balance for all the 
blessings of this life, so that he would have been 
a gainer, by passing immediately from his birth to 
his grave ; for, to suppose that our Lord intended 
by it, to say that if God had been good to him he 
would not have conferred upon him his existence, 
(the only view which can favor the doctrine of his 
eternal perdition) would be an impeachment of 
the Divine goodness. 

Another passage which has been much relied 
upon as a proof of the doctrine under considera- 
tion, is that found in 2 Thes. 1 : 9. "Who shall 
be punished with everlasting destruction from the 
presence of the Lord, and from the glory of his 
power." That we may learn what St. Paul in- 
tended by these words, let us consider that they 
and their connection were addressed to the church 
at Thessalonica, while under a grevious persecu- 
tion from those who believed not the gospel. The 
principal object of the whole passage was to en- 
courage and comfort the "brethren" under all their 
"tribulations," first, by assuring them that they 
should be accounted worthy of the kingdom of 
God for which they were suffering such tribulation, 
and therein should find rest with the apostles and 
others who remained faithful to the end. Second, 



78 DURATION OF 

by assuring them that it would be a righteous 
thing with God to recommence tribulation to their 
persecutors, at the time when the Lord Jesus 
should be revealed from heaven in flaming fire, 
(the symbol of Divine Glory) with his mighty an- 
gels, to give rest to, and to be glorified in all them 
that believe, and also to punish with everlasting 
destruction them that obey not the gospel. 

From this general view of the scope of the pas- 
sage, it appears (1,) that this destruction is future, 
and will take place at the time when Christ shall 
come in glory to judge the quick and the dead at 
his appearing and kingdom; (2,)that the resurrection 
does not signify annihilation, as some have suppo- 
sed, for it is called "tribulation" by the apostle, see 
verse 6th ; (3,) that it will be a righteous recom- 
pense for the trouble they have given to the saints. 
There is nothing therefore in the nature of the 
case which requires the punishment to be endless, 
but on the contrary, as the "trouble" they had giv- 
en was limited, so it would rather seem that in 
reason and justice, their "trouble" in return, to the 
righteous, should also be limited. But not to in- 
sist on this, we would only further say, the argu- 
ment from the term everlasting in this text, has 
already been fully answered ; and close our obser- 
vations on this class of scripture proofs with the 
single remark, that everlasting does not naturally 
and necessarily imply that the punishment to 



PUNISHMENT. 79 

which it is applied will be endless, nor do the 
words destruction, punishment, or fire, or any two 
of them united, imply the doctrine. 

We come next to notice those passages in the 
New Testament, where our Saviour speaks of the 
wicked under the metaphors of a tree "hewn down 
and cast into the fire," of chaff burnt up "with 
unquenchable fire," of bad fish , taken in the net 
only to be "cast away," and of foolish virgins, 
against whom the door of mercy is shut. These 
Scriptures have been much employed in support 
of the irrecoverable loss of the wicked ; and the 
challenge has been made with much assurance, 
"when the fruitless tree is burnt up, who shall re- 
store it again ! when the chaff is burnt up with 
unquenchable fire, who will be able to restore it!" 
and so, also, of the bad, cast from the gospel net, 
and of the foolish virgins against whom the door 
of grace is closed. The whole force of the seem- 
ing argument from these passages, arises from the 
literal meaning of these figures of speech, and the 
natural impossibility there is of restoring the tree 
or chaff to their former state, when once they are 
burnt ; but not at all from their metaphorical use, 
for there is no such impossibility with God, to re- 
store sinners after having punished them. This 
will appear, and the whole argument be conclu- 
sively answered, if we refer to St. Paul's language 
and argument found in the eleventh chapter to the 



80 DURATION or 

Romans; where he speaks of the unbelieving Is- 
raelites under the metaphor of branches broken off 
and rejected. Now nothing can be more obvious 
than it is, that the very characters here styled bran- 
ches by St. Paul, are by our Lord called trees, 
chaff, #-c. and as he affirms, God is able to, and 
will graft them again into their own olive tree, and 
that the receiving of them shall be life from the dead, 
and so all Israel be saved ; therefore we cannot 
understand our Saviour in the above passages as 
teaching the impossibility of the restoration of the 
\ery same characters, whom St. Paul says shall 
be saved. 

Another ground of defence for the endless tor- 
ment of the wicked, is divine justice. Those 
who assume this ground, reason thus : ''because sin 
is infinite in respect to the object against which it is 
committed, therefore it deserves an infinite punish- 
ment." But to this it is replied, that if for this 
reason all sins are infinite as to their demerit, then 
the demerit of all sins must be equal, and so there 
must be equal reason for the pardon of all sins ; 
for the demerit of no sin can be more than infi- 
nite. And besides this, it from hence follows, 
that God cannot render to every man according as 
his ivorks shall be ; because, although they commit 
innumerable sins ; he can only punish them for 
one ; as they cannot receive a punishment which 
is more than infinite. The great error in this ar- 



PUNISHMENT. 81 

gument consists in the supposition that sin is infi- 
nite, which is absurd ; because it is the act of a 
finite creature ; and therefore can be no more than 
a finite act, whatever may be the aggravation of 
its circumstances. Hence, the conclusion is ir- 
r*esistable, that as sin is limited, being the act of 
an agent of limited powers ; neither reason nor 
justice can require an unlimited or endless punish- 
ment, as such punishment would not be according 
to his works. 

The last source of its defence which we shall 
mention, is that of reason. It is said to be rea- 
sonable that we should be punished according to 
our departures from the line of duty here, and 
therefore it will be equally so that we should con- 
tinue to be punished by the same rule so long as 
we shall continue to be sinners, which will be al- 
ways ; and hence our sufferings must be perpetual 
and without end. To this we answer, that we do 
not admit several things here taken for granted : 
first, that men will continue to sin time without 
end ; second, that there will be no means of grace, 
or space for repentance beyond the present life ; and 
third, that the only design of punishment is to sat- 
isfy the demands of divine justice, and of course 
never to be employed as an instrument or auxilia- 
ry of the sinner's reformation. Could these things 
be shown, the inference of endless misery would 

follow ; but those scriptures which speak of Christ 

11 



82 DURATION OF 

as taking away the sin of the world, and being* 
the propitiation for the sins of the whole world, 
plainly forbid the idea of its endless continuity ; 
and the numerous passages which declare that the 
severest judgments of God shall result in the sin- 
ner's knowing and confessing the Most High, and 
those which place all punishment under the gra- 
cious government of the Mediator, who will sub- 
due all beings and powers to himself, and subse- 
quently resign his kingdom to the Father in per- 
fect subjection to his holy and blessed will;* 
clearly prove the fallacy of limiting the work of 
grace to the present life, or of asserting that the 
only design of punishment is the satisfaction of 
justice ; and hence the argument built on these 
premises necessarily falls to the ground, and rea- 
son, as alleged, is not for, but against the doctrine 
that misery w 7 ill have no end. Not only this, but 
the places above referred to, with many others 
which might be quoted had we time, strongly im- 
ply the emendatory character and design of punish- 
ment, and this is farther strengthened by the uni- 
versal admission that the retributions of God are in 
many cases salutary, and if as the Scriptures as- 
sure us, there is no respect of persons with him, 
then they must prove so in all cases ; and if the 
punishment be salutary, then under its continuance 
men must finally cease to commit sin, and conse- 

* 2 Cor. 5, 10. Rev. 14, 10. 1 Cor, 15, 24—28. 






PUNISHMENT. 83 

quently cease to be punished. Now from this ex- 
amination of the doctrine of punishment, we come 
very naturally to the conclusion that the punish- 
ments denounced in the sacred writings against sin- 
ners, are not endless, and therefore not opposed 
to the doctrine of the final and universal restoration, 
but rather in favor of that most desirable and glori- 
ous hypothesis. 

Having thus answered this most important ob- 
jection, but whether satisfactorily or not, the hear- 
er is left to decide ; we will now close with a 
short reference to the reasons for believing that 
future punishment is limited in degree and dura- 
tion, by the number and aggravations of the crimes 
for which it is inflicted. 

We believe it to be thus limited, because it 
harmonises much better with the infinite love and 
goodness of God, as revealed in the gospel and 
attested by the Holy Spirit within us ; because it 
accords much more perfectly with the general scope 
and design of the gospel of Christ, and the numerous 
means which it employs for the salvation of the 
world : because it is perfectly consistent with that 
justice which lies at the foundation of divine gov- 
ernment, prescribing equal laws, and securing the 
rights of God, and the rights of mankind : because 
it is the only view of punishment, which can ren- 
der it salutary to men, and conducive to the wil- 
ling subjection of all minds to the will of God ; and 



84 DURATION OF 

lastly, because it harmonises with all the attributes 
of Deity, the promised triumph of Christ over sin 
and death, and will issue in the ascriptions of glo- 
ry and praise to the righteous Judge of all the 
earth, by the happy millions of the human race. 

My friends, being fully impressed with a sense 
of how deeply the great question of this evening's 
discussion concerns the Divine Character, the 
reputation of the early christians and martyrs, the 
success and prevalence of the holy scriptures and 
of genuine Christianity ; — of the deep interest you 
feel for yourselves and fellow creatures in this 
great subject ; and for myself being perfectly con- 
vinced that neither the Bible, the justice of God, 
or the dictates of enlightened reason, sustain the 
doctrine of the endless perpetuity of sufferings for 
any of the human family, but that they perfectly 
accord in giving their united authority to the sup- 
port of a future limited, emendatory, and righteous 
judgment of God, which will result in the bowing 
of every knee to God, and the confession of every 
tongue to Christ ; I therefore submit this 
whole subject, with what has been said upon it, to 
your best feelings and unbiased judgment in the 
fear of God, for your prayerful consideration, pray- 
ing that a careful search of the scriptures and the 
super-human light and wisdom from the Holy 
Spirit, may guide you to a right decision, and 
that decision lead you to feel more true rev- 



PUNISHMENT. 85 

erence for God, more filial fear of his dis- 
pleasure, more sacred regard for the Holy Bible, 
and more genuine sympathy for mankind ; and to 
cherish a more ardent love to Christ, the great 
Restorer of the world, and a more devout faith in 
his religion, which has the promise of the life that 
noiv is, and that which is to come. 



L.ECTURE Y. 

ANOTHER OBJECTION CONSIDERED. 
TITUS II. 11, 12. 

"FOR THE GRACE OF GOD THAT BRINGETH SALVATION, HATH AP- 
PEARED TO ALL MEN, TEACHING US, THAT DENYING UNGODLI- 
NESS AND WORLDLY LUSTS, WE SHOULD LIVE SOBERLY, RIGHTEOUS- 
LY AND GODLY IN THIS PRESENT WORLD." 

The marginal reading of the eleventh verse is to 
foe preferred, not on account of its being more fa- 
vorable to our views, but as expressing the mean- 
ing of the apostle more clearly. The reading re- 
ferred to is this : the grace of God that bringeth 
salvation to all men, hath appeared, teaching us, 
that denying ungodliness and worldly lusts, we 
should live soberly, righteously and godly in this 
present world. If the grace of God, exhibited in 



CONSIDERED. 87 

the gospel, had in the days of the apostles appear- 
ed to all men, it must have been in some very re- 
fined and spiritual sense, seeing many had never 
heard of it ; but that it had then appeared to the 
apostles and christians of that day, and was de- 
signed to carry in its progress through the world 
the glad tidings of salvation to the whole human 
race, teaching them, as it progressed, to abandon 
all false religion, and to live in obedience to God, 
is perfectly consistent with the spirit and genius of 
Christianity, and gives an easy and consistent view 
of the passage. Should any choose to abide by 
the authorised rendering, it will make no differ- 
ence for or against the salvation of all men ; for as 
the grace of God bringeth salvation, in every sense 
in which it hath appeared to all men, salvation 
must have appeared to and for them. 

St. Paul seems to employ in the text, a most 
beautiful and striking metaphor taken from the 
sun, which is seldom noticed. As the sun appears 
or shines out from the east upon the darkness that 
broods over the face of the earth, and commences 
by his diurnal rotation upon his own axis, and his 
revolution in his orbit, his course of successively im- 
parting light and its thousand blessings to the 
whole creation, so the gospel of the grace of God, 
has shined out, and will successively enlighten, 
sanctify, and bless the inhabitants of every part 
and region of the world, and in Heaven's great 



88 ANOTHER OBJECTION 

year, it will finish its course by bringing all flesh 
to see the salvation of God. 

It is the leading sentiment of the passage be- 
fore us, that the same grace that brings salvation 
to men, teaches them, and tends to produce in 
them, the habits of piety to God, benevolence and 
justice to their fellow men, and of personal sobrie- 
ty and purity in the present life as a preparation 
for the glory and happiness of a future state, and 
consequently that all false religions tend, either 
directly or remotely, to form and strengthen op- 
posite habits, and to disqualify men for future 
happiness. This sentiment is likewise supported 
by the general voice of Scripture. " Ye shall 
know the truth, and the truth shall make you free? 9 
1 'sanctify them through thy truth ; thy ivord is 
truth" The true faith ivorks by love and puri- 
fies the heart — and overcomes the world. The 
christian is required to yield his members ser- 
vants to righteousness unto holiness : and called 
unto virtue and to glory. By this shall all men 
know that ye are my disciples, if ye have love one 
to another ; for love worketh no ill to its neigh- 
bor, and is the fulfilling of the law. The good 
tree is knoivn by its fruit ; for the fruits of the 
Spirit are in all, love, joy, peace, long-suffering, 
gentleness, meekness, goodness and faith. While 
on the other hand, it is affirmed with equal truth, 
in vain do ye worship me, teaching for doctrine 



CONSIDERED 89 

the commandments of men — evil communications 
corrupt good manners — and they that sow to the 
flesh, shall of the flesh reap corruption. There- 
fore, although we would give all due credit to the 
sincerity of those who are honestly in error, yet 
we cannot for a moment agree with those who af- 
firm that all doctrines, whether true or false, are 
equally salutary in their influence upon the hearts 
of those who believe them, and upon the moral 
condition of the society in which they are promul- 
gated. Nor do the scriptures warrant the belief 
that errors in sentiment have no influence, and are 
therefore harmless. Still less do they countenance 
that pretended charity, which says there are as 
good men — men as strongly fortified in virtue, and 
as thoroughly guarded against temptation, among 
infidels and unbelievers, as are to be found among 
christians. If we appeal to history, it will cor- 
roborate the prophetic testimony of the scriptures, 
by giving us the most satisfactory proofs that 
Christianity has already greatly improved the po- 
litical, moral, social and religious condition of 
mankind. 

What if there were some bright stars, that shone 
to relieve the darkness of the long and dreary night 
of pagan superstition, whose light borrowed a pe- 
culiar lustre from the surrounding darkness? Is 
not their light perfectly eclipsed by the rising sun, 

whose day we live to see? But if it be inquired 

12 



90 ANOTHER OBJECTION 

why the christian character has not arisen to a 
much higher standard of perfection than we can 
as yet claim for it among professing christians? 
this is our answer : because Christianity has, through 
ignorance or design, been adulterated and mixed 
with the errors and darkness of former times, 
which have served, in some degree, to neutralize 
its heavenly influence. And hence, one method of 
detecting error, is to trace its influence upon the 
mind that receives it, and thus to expose its licen- 
tious tendency in society. On this ground, that 
is, its licentious tendency, our distinguishing doc- 
trine, the final and universal restoration, has been 
seriously objected to ; and therefore we cheerfully 
put it upon trial, that its guilt, or its innocence of 
the charge may appear, as compared with its oppo- 
sing sentiment. 

The vast importance of the Restoration to the 
hopes and the happiness of mankind, and the equal 
importance of the objection to it, which is now un- 
der consideration, claim for this discussion a most 
devout and serious attention. And that we may 
proceed understandingly, we shall present a concise 
view of the doctrine objected to, the objection to 
it, and then endeavor to obviate and remove the 
objection. 

First, then, the doctrine is briefly this, viz. that 
God, having created the human race to do his 
will, and to enjoy his care and goodness, and they 



CONSIDERED. _ 91 

having rebelled against his law, and forsaken his 
service to their own condemnation and ruin, was 
pleased in conformity to his original design to 
make known by the gospel, his plan of infinite 
grace for their salvation or restoration, to the ser- 
vice and happiness for which they were at first 
created, by turning them from idolatry and con- 
firming them in the habits of practical holiness of 
heart and life — that for the accomplishment of this 
most glorious purpose of grace, he instituted the 
kingdom and government of the Mediator, extend- 
ing from the commencement of the gospel to the 
resignation of said kingdom in perfect subjection, 
at the consummation of all things — that he has 
constituted all the human race the moral and ac- 
countable subjects of the government of Christ, 
not only while living here, but also in a future 
state, for all their secret thoughts, feelings and 
actions, wherever exercised or committed — that 
therefore Christ will here or hereafter, and previ- 
ous to the resignation of his kingdom, reward eve- 
ry man according to his virtue, and punish the 
wicked according to their neglect of, or disobedi- 
ence to that gracious gospel that bringeth them sal- 
vation, and that he will continue so to punish 
them, till they by a sincere and hearty repentance 
towards God, find peace and pardon in believing ; 
and hence, punishment, in all cases, being not an 
end of Christ's government, but a mean, cannot 



92 ANOTHER OBJECTION 

be endless ; for having accomplished its design, it 
will of necessity subside and give place to the 
salvation brought to light by the grace of God, 
From this short statement of the Restorationists 5 
views in regard to the purposes of God, the issue 
of the Redeemer's reign, and of the design and 
character of punishment ; it will be seen that their 
sentiments do not subvert but establish the scrip- 
ture doctrine, of salvation by grace, and at the 
same time furnish sufficient checks to vice, and the 
most efficient motives to reformation and the prac- 
tice of virtue in the present world. Second, to 
this however it has been objected ; and many 
have alleged, that these sentiments do not suffi- 
ciently guard men against the allurements of sin, 
and the indulgence of sinful pleasure, ambition, 
and revenge ; nor give to them the highest mo- 
tives to self-denial, submission to Christ, and to 
the obedience of the gospel— that it does not 
sufficiently impress, alarm, and awaken the con- 
science of sinners, to induce their repentarce, re- 
formation, and return to God, with full purpose 
of heart to serve him forever ; and hence that it 
cannot prove to be practically the power of God 
pnto salvation. 

These objections are supported by too reasons, 
1. because the Restoration extends the work of 
grace beyond the present life ; and supposes that 
those who leave this world impenitent and unbe- 



CONSIDERED. 93 

lieving, will ultimately be subdued and reconciled 
to God. 2. because it presupposes punishment 
to be limited in degree and duration to the char- 
acter of the sinner, the aggravated circumstances 
of his guilt, and the obduracy of his heart ; and 
hence however long and severe it may be, it will 
at last come to an end and the sufferer be made 
happy,. Therefore it is said the sinner will be 
encouraged to continue in his sinful course, saying 
to himself, if I do not repent and reform here, I 
shall have the opportunity of doing so hereafter ; 
and if the punishment which I shall merit comes 
upon me, yet it will not be interminable and so 
1 shall be happy after all let me do as I will. 
But if there were no future days of grace held up 
to view, and the punishment were to be repre- 
sented as strictly endless, he would have no such 
excuses Xo make. Having thus clearly and fully 
stated the objection and the reasoning on which 
it is founded, we would here only remark for the 
present, that the abuse of any religious sentiment 
is not to be urged against its use ; for if it be, the 
whole doctrine of grace must be abandoned. — 
3. In our reply to this specious, and by many 
thought to be an unanswerable objection, we shall 
inquire into the motives by which men are gov- 
erned in their conduct, and the influence which 
limited and endless punishment are respectively 
calculated to exert upon those motives. 



94 ANOTHER OBJECTION 

The motives by which the conduct of men are 
governed, may be reducedto three, fear, hope, and 
complacency. 

As far as free moral agents permit their self-de- 
termining power, their caprice, self-will, or their 
sense of right, to be influenced in their decisions 
by motives, so far they may be said to 
be governed by those above named. The fear we 
allude to, is the apprehension and dread of evil, 
sufferings, or punishment, which will be incurred 
by the perpetration of vicious actions, as the natural 
consequences of sin, the awards of society, or the 
inflictions of Deity, for the violations of his will ; 
and whether these threatened evils, sufferings, or 
punishments, relate to the body, the mind, or the 
condition, or be apprehended in the present, or 
future state, they form motives or inducements to 
abstain from such actions. Hope is the pleas- 
urable expectation of good, natural or spiritual, in 
the present or future world, to be obtained as the 
result of good actions, done for the benefit of men 
and in obedience to the will of God ; and as such 
becomes a powerful motive or excitement to the 
practice of religion and virtue, from the first mo- 
ment it is entertained. Complacency, is that 
pleasure and satisfaction which the mind of a good 
man experiences in performing noble and worthy 
actions, the keeping of a good conscience, and in 
doing the will of God from a conviction that it is 



CONSIDERED. 95 

perfectly good and holy ; and hence it is the hap- 
piest motive which can influence the good man to 
persevere, and differs from hope in that it is more 
immediately from himself, and refers especially 
to the present ; whereas hope regards the future. 

These motives act upon all persons in exact 
proportion to their intelligence, aversion to suffer- 
ings, and desire for happiness, influencing them in 
all the duties and transactions of life. The vi- 
cous will therefore be naturally most influenced by 
their fears, the virtuous by their hopes, and the 
perfectly good by their complacent feelings ; and 
hence when these motives all unite and act to one 
end, their influence is the most powerful, and 
when the last only in connexion with gratitude and 
assurance is sufficient, as will be the case in heav- 
en, then the subject will be the most perfectly 
happy, and obedience be bliss itself. 

But fear, to be salutary, must not be superstitious, 
that is, founded upon imaginary evils, such as have 
no existence in fact, such as God's word does not 
denounce upon sinners — it must not be slavish, a 
mere dread of punishment, without any conscious- 
ness of its justice, and our own deserts, for that 
degrades the mind and hardens the heart — it must 
not be excessive, without degree or measure, such 
fear is despair, the palsy of the soul, which pre- 
vents the possibility of reformation, and places the 
unhappy victim beyond the reach of hope. Nor 



96 ANOTHER OBJECTION 

must hope, to be efficient, be presumptive, found- 
ed merely on our wishes ; not delusive, having no 
foundation in reason, fact, or the promises of God ; 
such for instance as the hope of sinning wilfully 
and escaping a just punishment, without sincere 
repentance and faith in Christ ; the hope of arriv- 
ing at angelic perfection in the present life ; or of 
living our whole lives here in sin, and going im- 
mediately to glory. Such hopes, being unsupport- 
ed by the scriptures, tend to encourage pride, ar- 
rogance, and a bold contempt of piety and pray- 
er, benevolence and faith in Jesus; and therefore 
instead of being motives and incentives to virtue 
and religion, are while they last, productive of the 
very opposite; hence he that is flattered by them will 
be sorely disappointed, and the staff on which he 
leans, shall pierce his hand. It is then a mistake 
not only to suppose that hopes such as banish all 
fear from the sinner, are most favorable to reli- 
gion ; but it is equally so, to conceive that the 
greatest degree of fear, that which banishes every 
ray of hope from the breast, can favor the cause 
of reformation and righteousness. 

Fear, to be healthful, morally speaking, must 
he mixed with love and hope, and of consequence 
the punishment which excites it must be just, that 
is, proportioned to the sins of the sufferer, and the 
aggravated circumstances under which they were 
committed, both in degree and duration. It must 



CONSIDERED 97 

be reasonable, sueh as an unperverted conscience 
cannot but approve as right ; it must be benevo- 
lent, tending to the emendation of the sinner, such 
as a good father, looking to its effects, could con- 
sistently administer upon the children of his care 
and love ; it must be scriptural, such as is clearly 
supported by the general voice and spirit of reve- 
lation, that the believer may have no doubt of its 
truth ; it must be certain in all cases but that of 
genuine repentance and reformation, as in the case 
of the prodigal son in tho gospel, and in that case 
it must be sure of pardon, in the name and for the 
sake of Jesus, who died " the just for the unjust, 
that he might bring us unto God." It must be suffi- 
cient, (not to expiate guilt, for that it neither can 
nor was it intended ever to do,) but to subdue and 
humble. the sinner ; and therefore it must be con- 
tinued till it has produced that effect, and then 
cease forever, that grace may henceforth reign 
through righteousness unto eternal life by Jesus 
Christ our Lord. 

This scheme of punishment, making it just, 
reasonable, scriptural, certain to the impenitent, 
while he continues to be such, remissible only to 
the penitent ; and certain of accomplishing its de- 
sign before it can cease, and certain to cease when 
the sinner is humbled, will not fail to exert a most 
salutary influence on the mind and conscience of 

the impenitent sinner, and be a most powerful 

13 



98 ANOTHER OBJECTION 

auxiliary to his repentance and reformation. It 
commends itself to his sense of justice, his reason 
and conscience, and to his own best interest ; and 
being sustained by the plain letter of the scrip- 
tures, it will readily command his full and un- 
doubting belief; and his faith thus established will 
excite his fear and apprehension of an evil which 
will far more than balance the pleasure he can 
promise himself by the gratification of his sinful 
propensities. And the fear thus founded on such 
clear and high authority, will affect his reason and 
understanding rather than his excited imagination, 
and cause him to dread the commission of sin 
rather than the hand that punishes it ; and conse- 
quently it will be neither superstitious nor slavish, 
but healthful and vigorous, awakening to a sense 
of real danger, quickening and strengthening ev- 
ery resolution and effort to escape by the only door 
of hope; and therefore this view of punishment, 
and the system of doctrine and practice properly 
connected with it, cannot be licentious in their 
tendency. This is the view entertained by Res- 
torationists, of the scripture doctrine of punish- 
ment, and its tendency upon the moral condition 
of mankind. 

The doctrine which limits rewards and punish- 
ments to the present life, is liable to the most se- 
rious objections, as being not only unfounded in 
scripture, and inconsistent with reason and justice ; 



CONSIDERED. 99 

but as leaving vice without a sufficient check, and 
virtue without an effectual support ; and must 
therefore be licentious in its influence upon socie- 
ty, being neither sufficient to give energy to the 
moral government of Deity, or to secure the or- 
der and peace of community. And although the 
advocates of this sentiment arrogantly claim for it 
the highest character for being benevolent and 
emendatory, yet nothing can be more manifest to 
our senses and experience than it is, that in a great 
variety of cases it utterly fails to produce the least 
visible emendation of heart or life in multitudes 
who notwithstanding it, live and die in sin, and 
without the least appearance of penitence. 

A still more objectionable feature necessarily 
connected with this doctrine is this, that rewards 
and punishments are not only limited to the pres- 
ent state, but that they are, by the Divine Coun- 
sel, limited to the natural effects or consequences 
of vice and virtue, in those who practice them ; 
which amounts to a denial of the existence of re- 
wards and punishments, in the common acceptation 
of those terms. Let this sentiment be followed 
up to its result, and it will repeal the penalties of all 
laws, human and divine ; and leave vice uninter- 
rupted and virtue unaided by the Deity or human 
governments, in their struggle for the mastery in 
society. < 

This modern opinion has been adverted to, 



100 ANOTHER OBJECTION 

merely that the reader may see and feel the differ- 
ence between that and the sentiment above stat- 
ed, and the difference of their spirit and influence 
upon good and bad men, in the world ; for it is 
the chief object of this part of the lecture to com- 
pare our view of future limited punishment with 
that taken by those who believe it endless ; that 
by so doing we may the better judge of their com- 
parative influence, and thereby show that ours is 
free from the just charge of being licentious. 

If future punishment be without end, it must 
be entirely different from t*hat which is experi- 
enced in the present life, which is confessedly e- 
mendatory in its design ; and therefore he that 
does not so improve it as to be made better by its 
administration, increases his guilt. But to sup- 
pose such a difference in the character and design 
of God's moral government, in the present and fu- 
ture states, is not supported by scripture or sound 
reason, as we understand them ; and hence the 
sentiment can have but a slender hold upon the 
conscience — if it be vindictive, and expressive of 
unalterable displeasure in God, it will naturally 
harden the heart, and the fear of it will be slavish 
and degrading to the soul, depressing the mind by 
degrees to unutterable despair ; — if the fear of 
interminable misery, unalleviated by hope or a 
sense of the Divine compassion, once takes pos- 
session of the mind, it will render it weak, gloomy, 



CONSIDERED. 101 

and superstitious. In proof of this position, we 
may successfully appeal to the heathen who worship 
Gods, malicious and revengeful, and to many cases 
of persons within our own knowledge, who have 
unfortunately despaired of divine favor, and given 
themselves up to the dread apprehension of un- 
ceasing anguish, as their certain and unavoidable 
doom. What if it be said these are extreme ca- 
ses ? they are the very cases to try the principle. 
Having thus stated the two schemes of limited 
and endless punishment, and the kinds of fear they 
naturally produce in the human mind ; if any 
doubt remains as to which of them will exert the 
most salutary influence, let us consider what it is 
that renders punishment the most effectual to re- 
form sinners, or to prevent the commission of 
crime. Surely it is not its endless duration ; be- 
cause the apprehension of sufferings far short of 
endless, would be sufficient to deter any one from 
sin. Who would purchase the momentary and 
sensual delights of a short and uncertain life of 
pleasure and dissipation, at the expense of only 
one thousand years of excruciating and unallevia- 
ted torments ? No one ; it is not in human nature 
so to do. Much less would he accept such pleas- 
ure upon the certain condition of suffering there- 
for long and uncertain periods of severe punish- 
ment, though he were certain it would after- 
wards come to an end. and he should be made for- 



102 ANOTHER OBJECTION 

ever happy by the grace of that Saviour against 
whom he had sinned. Then, it is not the length 
but the certainty of sufferings for sin, whether 
limited or not, that deters men from its indulgence ; 
for to the very same degree in which punishment 
is uncertain, there is no occasion to fear : and be- 
sides, we are always prone to flatter ourselves that 
the chance will be in our favor, especially where 
the allurement is great. Now for punishment to 
be practically certain to us, we must sincerely be- 
lieve in its truth ; for what we do not believe, is 
nothing to us. Which then is capable of the clear- 
est and strongest proof ? Surely that view of pun- 
ishment which is most scriptural, reasonable, just, 
and salutary, will most easily obtain the credence 
of mankind, and by them be deemed the most 
certain, as coming from God. The reason why 
men are no more restrained from sin by fear, is 
not because they believe in limited future pun- 
ishment, but because they do not believe in 
any ; that therefore which will most readily 
commend their belief, will have the best influence 
when preached to them. Nor is that fear the 
most effectual to check vice, and at the same time 
to cherish and fortify virtue, which is the most in- 
tense, but that which is most properly mixed with 
hope ; so that while we fear a punishment suffi- 
cient to subdue and humble us at the feet of Christ, 
by a sense of the evil of sin, and a sincere and 



CONSIDERED. 103 

hearty repentance therefor, and at the same time 
leaves us the hope of relief by that repentance — 
this, I say, is the most salutary fear. 

Therefore as the gospel addresses men as being 
already sinners^ the true secret of successful 
preaching is that instituted by Jesus and his apos- 
tles, of so addressing the fears by the denuncia- 
tion of a just, reasonable and disciplinary pun- 
ishment, as to prevent their continuance in sin, 
and at the same time so to encourage hope by the 
promise of pardon and reward, as to produce re- 
pentance and reformation. Excessive fear discour- 
ages the sinner, and hurries him to despondency ; 
and fallacious hope, without reformation, makes 
him arrogant and reckless in his course of wicked- 
ness ; but a just mixture of hope and fear, will 
make him the humble, yet cheerful, devoted and 
spiritual follower of Christ — check his propensi- 
ties to evil, and strengthen his resolutions to good- 
ness — chasten the enjoyment of worldly prosperi- 
ty, and comfort and invigorate the heart in afflic- 
tion and death ; — -and hence, we come to the con- 
clusion, that the doctrine of a future, just, and 
salutary punishment, connected with the holy doc- 
trine of the final restoration of the whole human 
race, is not justly chargeable with being licentious. 
No man in the full belief of its truth, and acting 
in the presence of God, and with reference to a 
future impartial judgment, ever said to himself, 



104 ANOTHER OBJECTION 

because my punishment will not be endless, there- 
fore I am resolved to sin on, indulge my propen- 
sities, and knowingly subject myself to the pains 
of this life, and the just retribution of a future 
state. And not only this, but on the other hand, 
we are persuaded that, if properly taught and en- 
forced, it will conduce more effectually and pro- 
perly to alarm the sinner to a just sense of his 
condition by a strong appeal to his conscience, and 
also to fortify the believer, by strong and certain 
hope, mixed with trembling, against all the allure- 
ments of temptation, than does the less reasona- 
ble, and, as we have shown in the previous Lec- 
ture, the less scriptural doctrine of endless misery. 

That sentiment clothes the character of God in 
terrors little suited to the Father of mercies and 
God of infinite, impartial grace ; and throws 
around religion a saddening gloom, which ill 
comports with the clear shining of the true light 
from heaven, that lighteth every man that cometh 
into the world : thus rendering them repulsive to 
the finer and more manly feelings of the heart ; 
for who could desire for himself or for any human 
being, the solemn and awful reality of endless 
woe ? 

But the restoration gives to the Father of the 
Universe the most glorious character for justice, 
mercy, and truth, — to religion the most inviting 
aspect, and to the human race the most reasona- 



CONSIDERED. 105 

ble and irresistable motives to virtue and piety ; 
and therefore we are constrained to believe that it 
will prove itself to be the power and grace of God 
that bringeth salvation to all men, teaching all na- 
tions and people to deny all ungodliness and 
worldly lusts, and to live soberly, righteously, and 
godly in this present world. 

14 



LECTURE VI. 



©©®< 



—«•»»«•««- 



PROOFS OF THE FINAL RESTORATION. 



ISAIAH VII. 3. 

«' And one cried unto another, saying, holy, holy, holy is the 
lord of hosts ; the whole earth is full of his glory." 

Having noticed in the previous lectures, some of 
the principal objections frequently brought against 
the doctrine of " universal restoration ;" we are 
this evening, to commence the consideration of 
the arguments and proofs in its favor, and shall pre- 
sent first, those drawn from the Divine attributes. 
To qualify his servant Isaiah for the sacred of- 
fice of a prophet, it pleased Jehovah to appear to 
him in a vision, seated upon a throne pure and 



CHARACTER AND ATTRIBUTES OF DEITY. 107 

exalted, with an heavenly train; and when the 
prophet beheld, and heard the seraphim shouting 
the praises of his holiness, immediately the whole 
earth appeared to be filled with the reflected 
splendors of his glory. And what was the glory 
of the Lord ? It was the display of his goodness 
then about to be made by the spirit of prophecy ; 
for when Moses besought the Lord to show him 
his glory, the answer was, " I will cause all my 
goodness to pass before thee." And his lips being 
touched with a live coal from off the altar, he 
spake thenceforth of "the coming of the just one,' 1 ' 
and of " the glory that should follow." 

By far the most wonderful exhibition of Di- 
vine goodness ever made to the world, was made 
in the revelation of the great plan of redemption 
by a Mediator ; and as when Jesus Christ, the 
likeness of the Father's glory, appeared to the 
shepherds on the plains of Bethlehem, a choir of 
the heavenly hosts gave glory to God in the high- 
est ; so when his kingdom shall prevail, and ev- 
ery knee shall bow to him in humble reverence, 
then shall the saints sing " alleluiah, for the Lord 
God Omnipotent reigneth ;" — and thus too, when 
the glorious " restitution of all things," announced 
by the spirit of prophecy, and confirmed by all the 
holy prophets since the world began, shall have 
been completed, then will every inhabitant of the 
earth, unite with saints and angels, to give glory 



108 PROOFS DRAWN FROM THE 

to him that sitteth upon the throne, and to the 
Lamb, forever and ever, for the holiness, goodness, 
and happiness enjoyed by the Universe. 

The proposition to be sustained is this, viz. 
that the whole human race, after being judged ac- 
cording to their works, will be restored to the Di- 
vine favor, by the riches of grace, through genu- 
ine faith, repentance, and the exercise of a truly 
christian temper and disposition of heart ; and the 
grounds of its support, are the character and at- 
tributes of Deity, considered in their relation to 
the human race. 

For the sake of reasoning more clearly on this 
subject, let us suppose that the scriptures declare 
to us the being and perfections of Deity, but that 
they are silent as to the destiny of mankind; in 
that case, being left to reason only from a knowl- 
edge of his perfections and relation to us, what 
would be the conclusion at which we should most 
naturally arrive on the subject ? For this purpose, 
let us now contemplate the being, perfections, and 
relation of God to man. 

In reference to God I would then say, with the 
profoundest reverence, he is that eternal, independ- 
ent, self-existent being, whose purposes and ac- 
tions are from himself; who is absolute in his do- 
minion, and pure and spiritual in his nature ; who 
though he is indescribable in his essence, and in- 
conceivable in the mode of his existence, illimit- 



CHARACTER AND ATTRIBUTES OF DEITY. 109 

able in his immensity, and fully known only to 
himself; yet we are instructed by reason as well 
as scripture to ascribe to him certain attributes, 
among which are the following : 

1. Infinite power; an energy to do and cause 
others to do, whatever he wills should be done ; 
by which he at the first created the worlds, and 
upholds all things, visible and invisible. 

2. Infinite wisdom ; that grand attribute of his 
nature by which he knows all things possible, de- 
vises whatever will promote his own glory, and 
the greatest good of his creatures, and adopts all 
such means as are best suited to its accomplish- 
ment. 

3. Infinite goodness ; that absolute perfection 
which comprises perfect holiness, justice, truth, 
and mercy, to all the subjects of his creation and 
care. 

Now to impress upon our minds as distinct an 
idea as possible of this infinitely glorious and per- 
fect Being, let us reverently contemplate him un- 
der the figure of the human mind, originally 
created in his image; not indeed as it now is, but 
pure, spiritual, and free from weakness or sin, with 
all its faculties and virtues extended to infinity — 
let us thus think of him as inhabiting eternity, pro- 
ducing the universe by the instantaneous exercise of 
his will, beholding at once all things past, present and 
future— looking upon the heart and its most secret 



1 10 PROOFS DRAWN FROM THE 

purposes, and speaking to the soul in a voice that 
awakens and electrifies all its powers ; and who, 
jet, is an invisible but infinite energy, that sur- 
rounds, protects, and upholds us. Thus perhaps, 
we shall arrive at the most familiar, and at the 
same time, the most correct impressions of the na- 
ture and attributes of God. 

The Divine perfections of power, wisdom, and 
goodness, are wonderfully displayed in the works 
of creation and providence. The immensity, varie- 
ty, and perfection of the works of creation, give the 
most exalted idea of that power which created " all 
things, visible and invisible, ' ? and upholds and cir- 
cumscribes the universe. Psalms 139: 8, 11, 14. 
Heb. 1 ; 3. Acts 17 ; 24, 28. Jf we look at 
the order of nature, the harmony of the heavenly 
bodies, the change of the seasons and the alterna- 
tions of day and night — the nice adaptation of 
part to part, and of means to ends, in the natural 
and moral world, we cannot but admire the wis- 
dom that contrived, as well as the power that exe- 
cuted, and exclaim with the devout Psalmist, "how 
manifold are thy works ! in wisdom hast thou 
made them all." Psalms 104; 24. 

Nor when we observe the general tendency of 
all things to promote the objects of benevolence ; 
the provisions made for the support, defence, and 
comfort, of the creatures of every element and 
climate ; or the perfect manner in which the sen- 



CHARACTER AND ATTRIBUTES OF DEITY. Ill 

ses of all creatures are suited to the objects with 
which they are conversant, so as to derive not 
only use, but also pleasure, each from their ap- 
propriate objects — that the mind and heart are so 
constituted as to derive succor from truth and vir- 
tue, and happiness from the good it imparts to 
others — I say when we carefully observe all these 
benevolent arrangements, in the works and provi- 
dence of God, we are constrained to confess and 
adore the creator, as being " good unto all, and 
his tender mercies over all his works." Psalms 
145: 9. 

Each of these attributes being unlimited, they 
must all be present in every act of God, from the 
greatest to the least ; especially must they all con- 
cur in fixing and bringing about the destiny of 
man, which from its connection with the hap- 
piness of Angels and the glory of God, must be by 
far the most illustrious display of wisdom, power, 
and goodness, the universe can ever witness. Pow- 
er therefore will perform nothing which is not di- 
rected by wisdom, and wisdom can direct nothing 
but what goodness approves. So that the power 
of God, mighty and glorious as it is, will never 
cast even a sparrow on the ground, without the 
consent of his heavenly wisdom, and the holy ap- 
proval of his infinite goodness. Although one at- 
tribute of the Divine Nature may be more con- 
spicuous in certain acts of God's government, than 



112 PROOFS DRAWN FROM THE 

the others, as for instance, in the punishment of 
sinners, the justice of God is specially manifested, 
while in the pardon of the penitent his mercy 
seems to triumph ; yet all must be supposed as 
consenting to each act of his government, so that 
there is ever the most perfect harmony between 
the Divine Attributes. The perfect consistency 
and harmony of the perfections of Deity, is most 
wonderfully illustrated in the ever adorable plan 
of redemption, by Jesus Christ our Lord, reveal- 
ed in the Gospel, by which God and all his per- 
fections will be glorified. To show this, will be 
the pleasurable and interesting task of future lec- 
tures ; but for the present, we shall content our- 
selves with the consideration of the relation which 
subsists between the leading attributes of God, 
above mentioned, and the human race. 

It is obviously true that the relation between 
the glorious ruler of the universe and every individ- 
ual of the whole race of mankind as creatures is the 
same ; he being their creator, preserver, and the 
disposer of their destiny. In the highest possible 
sense he is their Father ; they having each and 
equally derived from him their being, capacities, 
means of improvement, and resources of enjoy- 
ment. He only does or can protect and sustain 
them. It requires the same power to create 
one as another of the human family ; and the 
same to preserve them from one moment or 



CHARACTER AND ATTRIBUTES OF DEITY. 113 

hour to another, as it did to create them at first* 
And hence the phenomena of our preservation ex- 
hibits the constant exercise of creative and Omnip- 
otent power, wisdom and goodness ; for should 
these be suspended for a single moment, we should 
fall into annihilation, and cease to be. How true 
is it then, that in the highest sense " we live, 
move, and have our being" in God, as the result of 
his relation to us as our constant and equal pre- 
server, and most holy and bountiful benefactor! 
Every added moment of our existence brings us 
new proofs of his infinite care and love, and should 
excite us to renewed gratitude and obedience ; and 
thus make our duty to him and to each other, as the 
common sharers of his bounty, the richest pleas- 
ure of life. 

Not only is God good, and equally good to man- 
kind, as their creator and preserver ; but also as 
their moral ruler and governor. Having created 
them free, moral, and accountable beings, they all 
hold the same general relation to his moral gov- 
ernment, i. e. each is responsible in exact propor- 
tion to the moral power given him, and to the op- 
portunities afforded him for its improvement ; so 
that one can as easily perform his duty as an- 
other. 

It should, however, be considered here, that 

God's moral government is to be viewed as a 

whole, and as extending over this and a future 

15 



114 PROOFS DRAWN FROM THE 

state. Taking in then, the whole course of its 
administration, all the moral as well as natural at- 
tributes of God will be fully developed towards 
mankind, so that with him there will be "no re- 
spect of persons." If therefore there be, as there 
certainly is, a difference in the degrees of happi- 
ness enjoyed by men in the present world, during 
the intermediate state, and at the day of judge- 
ment ; this is not because God is not equally good 
to them, but because they do not equally improve 
the power and blessings he has bestowed upon 
them. 

Justice, mercy, compassion and grace, are admin- 
istered to every man upon precisely the same prin- 
ciples, and with most perfect impartiality ; for that 
which in one man procures punishment, procures 
it in the case of every man ; and that which enti- 
tles one man to mercy and pardon, entitles every 
man to like favor. 

Hence, mercy, justice, and every attribute of the 
Divine Nature, are extended to every individual of 
mankind upon equal conditions ; because those at- 
tributes are infinite, and therefore equal : and 
hence upon the same condition that one sinner can 
be saved, all sinners may be saved ; so that the 
wisdom and perfections of God are " without par- 
tiality." Therefore it is not true that justice will 
be glorified in the damnation of some sinners, and 
mercy in the salvation of others equally guilty, 



CHARACTER AND ATTRIBUTES OF DEITY. 115 

and in the same circumstances. This would sub- 
vert all our ideas of- impartiality on the part of 
the divine government, and of moral equality on the 
part of men as moral agents ; and be opposed to 
the plainest declarations of scripture, and the 
soundest dictates of reason. 

Hence by this reasoning, we are naturally and 
irresistably brought to the conclusion, that all men 
as the creatures of his power, and as moral agents 
or subjects of his moral dominion, are equally 
the offspring of God, the subjects of his care, and 
the objects of his love ; and that their conduct is, 
and ever will be, the object of his approbation or 
displeasure, and the subject of his reward or pun- 
ishment, according as it is conformed or not con- 
formed to his law. He that created them so fear- 
fully, wonderfully and mercifully, bestowed on 
them his own image, and gave them such natural 
and moral powers, must esteem and value them 
not only as his own work, but for their capacities 
to glorify and enjoy him and his kingdom forever. 
That his esteem may be of use to them, and ex- 
cite their gratitude to him, he has constituted them 
with their agency and noble faculties, so immedi- 
ately dependent upon himself for being, preserva- 
tion anc( happiness, that without his constant aid 
and help, they can neither exist nor arrive at per- 
fect happiness, after which he has made them so 
earnestly to aspire. And that a sense of this de- 



116 PROOFS DRAWN FROM THE 

pendence should not be grievious to them, he has 
required, and ever will require them, and each of 
them, and that equally, to put their trust in him as 
the guardian of their being, and the benefactor of 
their happiness ; and to bestow on him their su- 
preme love, as their chief good, here and hereaf- 
ter : and this requirement is the spirit of " the 
law and the prophets." Here let it be noted, that 
the requiring of all to love and serve God, and to 
confide in him, is virtually a pledge that his pow- 
er, wisdom anehgoodness, are and will always be 
exerted in their favor. 

Such being the character of God, the nature 
and tendency of his attributes, and their relation 
to men ; and such being the nature, capacities, de- 
pendence, and obligations of mankind to their 
Maker ; the question now is, what destination 
does reason, founded on these facts, teach us to 
believe God will assign to them ? and will that des- 
tination be the same to all ? 

Three dispositions only can be made of men ; 
they must be finally happy, or miserable, or be 
forever annihilated. The power of God is able 
to effect either ; but could wisdom and goodness 
approve of perpetual misery, or of annihilation ? 
Would it be an act of infinite wisdom to create 
man with his present capacities, for the purpose of 
enduring unceasing woe ? And, especially, what 
goodness would there be displayed in the bestow- 



CHARACTER AND ATTRIBUTES OF DEITY. 117 

merit of existence, either for perpetual sufferings, 
or to be blotted out from the universe as an incur- 
able ? It is an exercise of divine wisdom to pro- 
duce good, and to extend the sphere of virtue, in- 
telligence and happiness ; but what wisdom there 
can be in creating intelligent beings to be loosers 
by their existence, it would certainly be very diffi- 
cult to show : and still more so, to describe what 
exhibition of goodness there would be, in so do- 
ing. Nay to make men miserable, or to annihi- 
late them, requires neither wisdom nor goodness ; 
but to secure them the possession of endless ex- 
istence, and the enjoyment of endless happiness, 
requires the perfection of those attributes, and the 
aid of infinite power. Therefore if wisdom and 
goodness were employed in the creation of men, 
they must have been created for the attainment 
and enjoyment of happiness, as the wisest and 
most benevolent destiny which could be assigned 
them ; but wisdom and love were employed in the 
gift of their existence, and therefore their destiny 
must be happiness, without the mixture of evil. 
If then God intended Adam, and in him, man- 
kind to be happy, then he must have had the same 
purpose with reference to each individual ; be- 
cause they all sustained the same relation to him, 
and each other. And if he created each individ- 
ual of the human race for happiness, then all his 
attributes must have concurred in that design, and 



118 PROOFS DRAWN FROM THE 

hence are pledged for its accomplishment— then 
also human agency, with the nature and capaci- 
ties of men, were constituted and given with re- 
ference to that design ; and the whole moral gov- 
ernment of God, suited to its ultimate execution ; 
which being the case, the operations of justice, 
as well as of mercy and the other attributes of his 
government, must result in the production of hap- 
piness and of equal good to every son and daughter 
of Adam. 

Therefore we answer the above questions, by 
saying, that just reasoning, founded on the divine 
character, the divine attributes, and the nature 
and equality of men, teaches us to believe that the 
design of God in the creation of Adam and each 
member of his posterity, w T as that he and they 
should be equally perfect in piety, virtue and hap- 
piness : and also that notwithstanding the intro- 
duction of sin by man, through the perversion of 
his agency, yet the moral government of God, 
founded on his holy perfections, will correct this 
evil, restore the whole human family, and thus 
carry into full effect the glorious design of their 
creation. And indeed we are fully persuaded that 
there is the same reason for believing that all men, 
without exception, will ultimately be saved, that 
there is for believing that any one of them will 
be. We should therefore, reasoning upon the at- 
tributes of God, as readily admit the endless per- 



CHARACTER AND ATTRIBUTES OF DEITY. 119 

dition of all, as of any one of the children of men. 

Should it be objected to this, that God, consist- 
ently with his holiness and goodness, administers 
punishment upon sinners in the present world, and 
therefore he may with equal propriety, as he chang- 
es not, continue to do so to eternity ; we answer, 
there is a wide difference between the punishment 
which God inflicts upon transgressors, here or 
hereafter, as a mean of subduing and reforming 
them, and endless perdition ; the one promotes hu- 
man virtue and happiness, the other necessarily 
precludes both, and that to eternity. And hence 
it does not follow that the goodness of God, could 
as well admit the one as the other of these propo- 
sitions. 

We proposed in this lecture, to show that the 
character and attributes of God, from their equal 
relation to all mankind, furnish us with strong rea- 
sons for believing in their final and universal resto- 
ration to holiness and happiness; and have we 
not now redeemed our pledge ? And does not 
this view, reflect the highest glory upon the di- 
vine perfections, and present his moral government 
in such a light as justly to command the rever- 
ence, confidence, and obedience of every creature ? 
Most certainly ; since according to it, God can ad- 
mit no evil into the universe but such as he will 
overrule for his own glory and the good of his ra- 
tional creatures ; and since he will administer no 



120 PROOFS DRAWN FROM THE 

punishment but such as is emendatory in its de- 
sign, and will be salutary in its effects, result- 
ing in the subjection and obedience of the sinner 
to the divine will. 

To conclude, we are confirmed in the correct- 
ness of this result to which our reasoning hath so 
clearly brought us, because the superior authority 
of the scriptures, as we have shown in previous 
lectures, offers nothing against it— because there 
is nothing in the nature of our agency or responsi- 
bleness to God, which opposes it — and because it is 
sustained by the voice of inspiration, which assures 
us that God hath " made all things for himself;" 
that he " will have all men to be saved and to come 
unto the knowledge of the truth," and that he is 
the Saviour x>f all men," having promised " the 
restitution of all things by the mouth of all his holy 
prophets, since the world began," as we shall at- 
tempt more fully to evince in future lectures. 

Moreover, we are persuaded that this view of 
the plan of God, when correctly understood and 
received in the love of it, will offer the best incen- 
tives to sincere piety, and the most universal en- 
couragement to the practice of virtue among men, 
as moral and accountable agents — that it best com- 
ports with the desire of those who are most un- 
der the influence of the spirit of pure religion, and 
contributes most to the happiness of good men in the 
present life ; for what good man can be happy in 



CHARACTER AND ATTRIBUTES OF DEITY. 121 

seriously contemplating the endless sufferings of 
his fellow creatures! 

But the salvation of the world, by a full display 
of the divine perfections, will afford a theme of 
joy for eternity, while in acclamations of praise 
and glory to God in the highest, angels and the 
redeemed shall vie with each other in cries of 
" holy, holy, holy is the Lord of hosts ; the whole 
earth is full of his glory." 



LECTURE VII, 



PROOFS OF THE FINAL RESTORATION. 

II, CORINTHIANS.. V. 14 ; 15, 

" FOR THE LOVE OF "GOD CONSTRAINETH US ; BECAUSE WE THUS 
JUDGE, THAT IF ONE DIED FOR ALL, THEN WERE ALL DEAD: AND 
THAT HE DIED FOR ALL, THAT THEY WHICH LIVE SHOULD NOT 
HENCEFORTH LIVE UNTO THEMSELVES, BUT UNTO HIM WHICH DIED 
FOR THEM, AND ROSE AGAIN." 

It is the character of Christ which sheds over 
the sacred pages such an - heavenly lustre ; and 
gives to them their infinite value to the children 
of men. Take from the Bible the prophecies, 
history, doctrines and precepts of Jesus, and it would 
be little better to sinners than a blank-book — -a 
dead letter ; but with them, it is a light from 



MISSION^ WORKS AND DEATH OF CHRIST. 123 

heaven, bringing glad tidings of salvation to all 
people. The most important particulars in the 
character of our blessed Lord, are his mission, 
works, and death ; which, taken in connexion 
with our lost condition, and as forming the ground 
of our richest hopes, for the present and future 
life, surpass all things else in the intense interests 
which they awaken in the human breast. 

Now that the mediation of Jesus Christ, and 
the salvation which he came to bring, may be the 
more highly esteemed by us ; and that his minis- 
try and word may be the less neglected by our 
indifference ; let us briefly consider the great ne- 
cessity in which we stand of the aid and help of 
such a Saviour. 

The scriptures assure us, that although man was 
created for happiness and ^lory, yet all have sin- 
ned and came short of that glory- — that as such 
they were fallen in the region and shadow of death, 
with no eye to pity and no arm to save, being 
without God and without hope in the world. Such 
was the forlorn condition in which Christ, accord- 
ing to the authority of inspiration, found the whole 
human race. Likewise, the voice of history de- 
clares the unhappy state of the world in all ages 
past, especially in those before the coming of 
Christ, by reciting the sad account of the war and 
carnage which have desolated the earth ; the op- 
pressions which have made its inhabitants to ago- 



124 P1M30FS DRAWN FROM THE 

nise ; and the crimes which have embittered all 
the relations of society, and the fountains of life. 

From this condition, our own experience suffi- 
ciently shows us that we could not have rescued our- 
selves ; for we have neither power to release the soul 
from the anguish of guilt, or the body from the pains 
and bondage of death. Therefore, besides the 
name of Christ, there is not a name given under 
heaven whereby We could have been saved. But 
such being our need of a saviour, God in his in- 
finite compassion laid help for us on " one mighty 
to save," and sent his Son from heaven to release 
us, and bring us again " into the glorious liberty 
of the sons of God." This view of the subject 
should awaken in us the warmest gratitude to 
Heaven, the most fervent love to Christ, and ex- 
cite us to a most cheerful obedience to the gospel. 
We propose now to examine the proofs of the 
"universal restoration, 1 ' found in the mission, 
works, and death of Jesus Christ. 

First then, the mission of Christ; for what end 
was he born ? for what purpose was he sent into 
the world ? and what will be the result of that re- 
ligion and system of means which he came to es- 
tablish on the earth ? The purpose of God in 
sending him into the world, must be either the 
salvation of the whole world, or a select part of 
k ; and therefore we adopt it as the scripture doc- 
trine that he was sent to redeem, sanctify, and 



MISSION, WORKS AND DEATH OF CHRIST. 125 

finally save, the whole human race, and that with- 
out exception. 

This doctrine relative to the object of Christ's 
mission, is supported by the scriptures, in numer- 
ous places, and by a great variety of modes of ex- 
pression. They assure us that the mission of Je- 
sus was the effect of God ? s love to the world ; 
" for God so loved the world, that he gave his on- 
ly begotten son, that whosoever believeth in him 
should not perish, but have eternal life. For God 
sent not his son into the world to condemn the 
world, but that the world through him might be 
saved."* What greater proof of his love to the 
world could God have given, than was given by 
sending his son to be its saviour ! The name Je- 
sus, i. e. saviour, given to Christ by the angel of 
God, imports the nature of his mission, as being 
sent to " save his people from their sins."f The 
first intimation of the Messiah's approach, an- 
nounces him as the seed of the woman, who 
shall bruise the head of the serpent ;t interpreted 
by St. Paul, in these words, he shall " destroy him 
that had the power of death, that is, the devii ; 
and deliver them, who, through the fear of death, 
were all their life time subject to bondage. ;i || 
Speaking of him, God says, by the prophet Isaiah, 
" I will also give thee for a light to the Gentiles, 

*St. John iii. 16, 17. |St, Matt. i. 21. JGen. iii. 15. 
||Heb. ii. 14, 15. 



126 PROOFS DRAWN FROM THE 

that thou mayest be my salvation unto the end of 
the earth. "^ 

Jesus himself says, " I came down from heaven, 
not to do mine own will, but the will of him that 
sent me. And this is the Father's will which 
hath sent me, that of all which he hath given me 
(i. e. the heathen and uttermost parts of the earth) 
I should lose nothing, but should raise it up again 
at the last day."f And this view of the Fath- 
er's will which Christ came to do, agrees with St. 
Paul's interpretation of the will of God, " who 
will have all men to be saved, and to come unto 
the knowledge of the truth."! Our Lord further 
says, " the Son of man is come to seek and to 
save that which was lost.|| And St. John pro- 
claims with peculiar emphasis, " We have seen 
and do testify, that the Father sent the Son to be 
the saviour of the world. "ft These are but a few 
of the passages which might be quoted from the 
sacred writings, to prove that the design of our Sa- 
viour's mission into the world, was not the salva- 
tion of a select part only, but the whole world ; for 
much of the New Testament, the sublimity and 
benevolence of his doctrines, the purity and rea- 
sonableness of his precepts, and the tendency of 
his religion to universal happiness, might be suc- 
cessfully urged in its support. 

§Isaiah xlix, 6. fSl, John vi. 38, 39. Jl. Tim. ii. 4. ||St 
Luke xix. 10. f f 1. John iv, 14. 



MISSION, WORKS AND DEATH OF CHRIST. 127 

Expressive of the high authority and dignity of 
him who came on such a mission, legions of an- 
gels announced his approach, and ministered to 
him, during the whole course of his ministry on 
earth, and his return to heaven. And for the fin- 
ishing of the mighty work of his mission, all pow- 
er in heaven and earth was given into his hands ; 
so that of his ability to finish it there can be no 
doubt. 

We are to notice some of the most important 
works of Christ, performed in the progress of his 
ministry on earth, in virtue of the mission and 
power given him. 

To say nothing of the ordinary w T orks of our 
Lord, as " he went about doing good," we may re-- 
mark that he performed, in the short space of his 
brief ministry among men, forty wonderful and 
splendid miracles, on forty different occasions, in 
open day-light, before friends and enemies, in the 
presence of the rulers, scribes, and multitudes of 
the people ; and by these miracles did he exhibit 
his complete power and dominion over the in- 
visible world, by calling Moses and Elias from 
thence to confer with him on the mount of trans- 
figuration ; over the natural world, by stilling the 
tempest and calming the sea; over the- men- 
tal world, by restoring the shattered powers of the 
lunatic * over the moral world, by forgiving sin, 
and removing the anguish of guilt from the peni- 



128 PROOFS MAWN FROM THE 

tent sinner's conscience ; over the bodies of men, 
by healing all manner of diseases and raising up 
the dead ; over demons, by casting them out and 
releasing both the body and the soul from their 
pernicious influence. These mighty works were 
all done not only by a power manifestly from hea- 
ven, but by a sympathy and kindness of feeling, 
which wept at the grave of Lazarus, and at the gate 
of Jerusalem ; had compassion on the wretched 
woman that touched the hem of his garment ; com- 
mended in his dying hour his mother to the care 
of a beloved disciple, and his murderers to the fa- 
vor of God, and was nobly touched with the feel- 
ing of all our infirmities and sufferings. They were 
therefore every one of them miracles of divine 
mercy as well as of heavenly power ; and hence 
to be regarded as practical proofs of the divinity 
of his mission, and of his perfect ability and dis- 
position to perform all its duties for the salvation 
of men, and to the acceptance of the Most High. 
Who that considers the vast variety of the wonder- 
ful works of Christ, and places before his mind's 
eye the most splendid and gracious of them all, his 
ascension into heaven, in the view of men and an- 
gels in a chariot of light, and dispensing as he as- 
cended higher, rich, inestimable and saving gifts 
to the world, whose cause he ascends to plead be- 
fore the throne of heaven ; and not, with the de- 
lighted men of Samaria, exclaim, " we have seen 



MISSION, WORKS AND DEATH OF CHRIST. 129 

him ourselves, and do know that he is the Christ, 
the saviour of the world." But it is the sufferings 
and death of Christ, rather than the beneficence of 
his miracles, that we look for the proofs of his great 
and saving love to the world ; and hence, 

3. We come to the consideration of the death 
of Christ. That he died is asserted by all chris- 
tians, and that he died for the redemption of men; 
but whether for the whole human race, is not a- 
greed, some averring that he did, and others that 
he did not. We propose not in this place to in- 
quire whether his death be the procuring cause of 
salvation, or the expression and attestation of God's 
love, and hence the pledge that God will save 
those for whom he died, by the means of grace 
contained in that religion which his death served 
to establish ; for f although this question may be of 
interest in some points of view, yet in regard to 
our present inquiry it is of no importance, as in 
either case, if he died for every man, then the sal- 
vation of every man must be effected either by it 
as the procuring cause, or by the redemption of the 
pledge, given by it, through the faithfulness of 
God. 

The question then is this, did our blessed Sav- 
iour suffer and die for every man without excep- 
tion ? This question the apostle, in the text, an- 
swers in the affirmative. True, he takes the fact 

17 



130 PHOOFS DRAWN FROM THE 

that Christ died for all, for granted, i. e. as a sen- 
timent which no christian of his day disbelieved, 
saying "if one died for all, (as you all admit) 
then were all dead : and that he died for all, that 
they which live, should not henceforth live unto 
themselves, but unto him which died for them and 
rose again." Here he states the admitted fact that 
"one died for all ;" and then draws from it 
two inferences, one of feet, and the other of duty : 
thus " if one died for all," then this inference is 
plain, viz. all were dead, or under the sentence of 
death: Again: if one died for all, then again the 
inference is equally clear, viz. that all should " live 
unto him who died for them." Now if any one 
deny that Christ died for all, he must, to be con- 
sistent with himself, also deny that all are dead or 
under the sentence of death, and also that all are 
obligated to live to Christ ; but this, we think, no 
one w T ould be willing to do. The equal necessity 
of all for the redemption of Christ, connected 
with the goodness of God, furnishes a very strong 
argument in favor of the doctrine of the universal- 
ity of his atonement. Yet we rest not the senti- 
ment upon this or any other reasoning, seeing the 
higher authority of revelation is at hand. 

The three following passages seem to place this 
inquiry beyond controversy, viz. 1. Tim. ii. 5, 6. 
" For there is one God, and one mediator between 
God and men, the man Christ Jesus ; who gave 



MISSION, WORKS AND DEATH OF CHRIST. 131 

himself a ransom for all, to be testified in due 
time." Heb. ii. 9. " But we see Jesus who was 
made a little lower than the angels, for the suffer- 
ing of death, crowned with glory and honor ; that 
he by the grace of God, should taste death for 
every man." 1. John, ii. 2. " And he is the 
propitiation for our sins ; and not for ours only, 
but also for the sins of the whole world." 

It is not easy to conceive how the universality 
of Christ's death, could have been expressed in 
stronger and more unequivocal terms than are em- 
ployed in the above scriptures. The terms all, 
every man, and the whole ivorld, not applied to a 
family, society, city, country, or nation, but to 
mankind, must embrace the human race without 
exception. And further, when it is considered that 
there is not a single passage in the Bible, that 
limits the death of Christ and its benefits to any 
section or part of mankind, to the exclusion of oth- 
ers, we cannot but perceive that the whole of the 
sacred writings assent to the truth affirmed by the 
above passages, and therefore confirm their testi- 
mony. And hence, the united voice of revelation 
proclaims that Jesus died for all, and in that he 
died for all, there is none for whom he did not die, 
and give himseK a ransom, that they might live, 
and finally inherit life eternal. 

The power and efficacy of the death of the 
Lord Jesus, as a mean to accomplish the di- 



132 PROOFS DRAWN FROM THE 

vine purpose, is attested by the astonishing 
events which accompanied it ; for when he died, 
the sun refused to shine from the sixth to the ninth 
hour ; the veil of the Temple was parted, the 
rocks were rent, the graves of the saints were 
opened, and the earth shaken to its centre. And 
these events were followed by the still more sur- 
prising ones of the resurrection of the Lord, and 
of many of his saints, who arose and appeared to 
many, as the witnesses that death was conquered, 
and life and immortality brought to light. 

Again the gospel speaks of Christ crucified, un- 
der the figure of a ransom ; and therefore wheth- 
er it be a ransom of life for life, or of price for the 
redemption of sinners, if accepted by the power 
to whom it was offered, it must effect the release 
of all for whom it was offered, or be wholly in 
vain. 

Now on the subjects of the mission, works, and 
death of our Lord, the following reasoning appears 
conclusive. 1st. If, as we have shown, God sent 
his son to redeem, and finally, to restore all men 
to holiness and happiness ; then it must be agreea- 
ble to his counsel and purpose, that that great 
event should be perfectly accomplished. And then 
also it must be possible that it should he so done, 
in perfect consistency with the moral agency and 
freedom of men, the moral government of God, 
and the scripture doctrine of rewards, punish- 



MISSION, WORKS AND DEATH OF CHRIST. 135 

ments, and pardons, as promised and dispensed by 
the gospel. 2. If Jesus really performed the mir- 
acles ascribed to him in the New Testament, as 
all christians believe he did, and with the love and 
compassion evinced by his voluntary sufferings and 
death for every man ; then he must have both 
power and the inclination to do and accomplish, 
in a manner not in the least subversive of our re- 
sponsibility to the divine law, whatever is necessa- 
ry to the moral subjection, and the restoring of 
every creature to the obedience of the divine will. 
3. And if Jesus Christ, in addition to all he did 
and said during his life on earth for the reforma- 
tion, comfort and happiness of men, did, as the 
ambassador of God and in obedience to his will, 
give " himself a ransom for all," with the purpose of 
effecting the regeneration of every son and daugh- 
ter of Adam, in the present or future world, and if 
God accepted him as such a ransom, as he most cer- 
tainly did, when he seated him at his own right 
hand in heavenly places; then the " universal res- 
toration" has the seal of heaven set upon it, as di- 
vine truth. 

Whosoever questions the correctness of this 
conclusion, must deny that God sent his son into the 
world to be the saviour of the whole human race, 
or maintain that his mission will fail, the power 
and grace exhibited by his works and miracles, be 
incompetent, and the efficacy of his death prove 



134 PROOFS DRAWN FROM THE 

insufficient to save the world ; which must pro- 
duce an infinite disappointment to the Deity, and 
cut off all ground of hope from men ; for if the 
mission, power and death of Christ, as they are 
proclaimed in the gospel, fail us as the ground of 
hope, in what shall we confide ? And if God be 
disappointed, why should not the plan of salvation 
utterly fail, and the world be left in despair ? But 
who would be willing to assume this ground of ar- 
gument against our position ? No one, we trust ; 
and therefore the mission of Christ, and the " uni- 
versal restoration," must stand or fall together. 

Such then being the design of our Saviour's mis- 
sion, it claims from the world the highest respect, 
and for his doctrines and precepts the most cor- 
dial reception and the most cheerful and constant 
obedience. Such being the character and tenden- 
cy of his miracles and examples of life ; they are 
the heavenly patterns of piety, virtue, and benev- 
olence, given for the love and imitation of men in 
every sphere of duty : and such being the purpose 
and efficacy of his death ; every man for whom he 
died, is under the highest obligations of gratitude 
to heaven for the preaching of the gospel of Christ 
and him crucified ; and has the highest interest in 
placing himself at the foot of the cross, and own- 
ing him who bled upon it as his blessed Lord and 
Saviour. 

Again : upon the truth of this view of the sub- 



MISSION, WORKS AND DEATH OF CHRIST. 135 

ject, must depend the criminality of those persons 
who reject the gospel ; for if there be any one of 
all the human race, whom Jesus was not sent to 
save, and for whose redemption he did not give 
himself a ransom, his rejection of Christ and the 
gospel, so far at least as his own salvation is con- 
cerned, can be no violation of the will of God, or 
of his own duty; as truth and justice cannot re- 
quire us to believe what is not true. But if, as 
we have shown to be the case, Christ came down 
from heaven, lived, died and rose again, for the sal- 
vation of " every man ;" then whosoever denies 
the messiahship of Jesus, scoffs at his religion, and 
tramples upon the institutions of his gospel, de- 
nies the Holy One, treads under foot the blood of 
the covenant, and does despite to the spirit of 
grace, as the fruit of God's everlasting love. 

This doctrine of Christ crucified for the world y 
is most admirably calculated to overcome the idol- 
atry, irreligion, and skepticism, which have and 
still do prevail in the earth ; and to unite men of 
every age and nation in the worship of one God, 
the love of one Saviour, and in the blessed hop es 
and comforts of one holy religion. It offers to 
men the most reasonable inducements to honor and 
love the name of Jesus, and to detest and avoid 
infidelity as the basest ingratitude to heaven, and 
the bane of human life. It invites a world from 
the degrading vices, ignorance, and cruelties of 



136 



PROOFS DRAWN FROM THE 



heathenism ; — from the licentiousness, the intem- 
perance, and loathsome haunts of the profaners of 
sacred truth; — from the awful and desolating 
scenes of war, rapine and murder ; and bids them 
seek at the feet of Jesus the pardon of their sins, 
the instructions of his word, the heavenly rest and 
peace, and joj of his kingdom on earth, and a 
crown of life that fadeth not away in heaven. 

In what way could our Lord so glorify the Father, 
as by thus inducing the world to forsake their sins, 
and to seek and find eternal life ? In what other 
way could he clothe himself with such distinguish- 
ed honor, or confer on the world such high and 
sacred obligations of love, gratitude and obedi- 
ence? And are not love and gratitude among the 
most powerful incentives to virtue and piety, since 
as christians, we love God because he first loved 
us, and sent his son to die for us ? 

Why then should it be thought incredible, that he 
who came on such a mission, and who did so much 
to make men holy and happy while he was here, 
should continue to exert his power and grace, till 
he brings every knee to boiv, and every tongue to 
confess, and wipe away the tears of grief from ev- 
ery human eye? As the judge of men, can he not 
sufficiently excite the fear and apprehension of sin- 
ners, without the infliction of such a punishment 
as must forever exclude them from being restored 
hy his mercy ? This, we think, must be admitted ; 



CHARACTER AND ATTRIBUTES OF DEITY. 137 

else to reward men according to their works, must 
be opposed to the heavenly doctrine of salvation 
by grace, a sentiment which would be most dis- 
honorable to the moral government of our Heav- 
enly Father ; for then the law of God would be 
against his promises, which an inspired apostle has 
asserted not to be true. And therefore no valid 
objection can be brought against the moral ten- 
dency of this noble sentiment. 

Hence we are constrained to believe, that the 
blessed gospel of a crucified Saviour, will prevail 
through the whole earth, and completely triumph 
over idolatry, error and vice ; reconcile a world to 
God and to each other, and fill the earth with 
the praise and glory of his grace. Therefore let 
every man that hath this hope in his heart, purify 
himself from sinful and selfish feelings, cultivate 
the most enlarged views of benevolence among 
men, and use his utmost exertions to impart the 
rich and saving knowledge of the mission, works, 
and sufferings of Jesus to every nation, kindred, 
tongue and people ; that every child of Adam 
may behold him as the lovely shepherd of Israel, 
feel their need of his help, cry to him and be saved. 

Heaven grant that such a spirit and such a re- 
ligion, may speedily come upon the rulers of the 
earth, the ministry of the gospel, the church of 
God, and upon all the people ; and to God and 

his Christ be the glorv, forever. 

18 



LECTURE VIII. 






PROOFS OF THE FINAL RESTORATION. 
II. CORINTHIANS, I. 20. 

"FOR ALL THE PROMISES OF GOD IN HIM ARE YEA, AND IN HIM AMEN, 
UNTO THE GLORY OF GOD BY US." 

Revelation is the greatest and richest of bless- 
ings to man. It discloses the perfections of Deity, 
and the designs of his government ; it opens to our 
view the felicities of Eternity, and shows us the 
way to attain them ; and teaches us to aspire to 
Heaven as our destined home. Compared with 
these treasures, what are the riches, the honors, 
or the pleasures of this short and changeful life ? 



THE PROMISES OF GOD. 139 

But that which adds to the scriptures their great- 
est value to us as sinners, is the spirit of promise 
and grace which runs through the sacred volume, 
from the beginning to the end, as a vein of the 
richest gold, offering divine aid and success to those 
who seek the heavenly inheritance. These prer 
cious promises all flow through one only medium, 
the Lord Jesus Christ ; for out of him there are 
no promises of salvation. The spirit and design 
of all the promises is therefore, to set forth the 
the riches of grace in Christ for penitent sinners, 
the treasures of glory he has prepared for them, 
and the blessed rewards he will confer upon their 
obedience and fidelity, as followers and friends ; 
and thus to endear to men the goodness of Him 
who sent his son to be the saviour of the world, and 
thus to encourage them in the practice of virtue 
and filial piety. 

When, however, we connect the several parts of 
Christianity, its doctrines, histories, precepts, 
promises, and warnings, as a whole, it is a most 
perfect system of promises — one great promise, 
embracing whatever could reasonably restrain our 
propensities to evil, and check the vicious in their 
rash career to wretchedness — whatever could con- 
duce to the temporal, spiritual, and eternal happi- 
ness of men, individually and collectively. Hence, 
all parts of the Bible are to be considered in con- 
nection with the promises of salvation by a Re- 



140 PROOFS DRAWN FROM 

deemer, and as necessary to their perfect ac- 
complishment ; nothing therefore, as designed by 
the Holy Spirit, is against the promises, but all 
the scriptures " are yea" and " amen" to the 
glory of God," by the preaching of the gospel. 

For this doctrine we have the authority of St. 
Paul, saying " Is the law against the promises of 
God ? God forbid." According to this authority, 
the promises take the lead in the sacred writings, 
expressing the great designs of their Beneficent 
Author ; and hence all the requirements, warn- 
ings, and denunciations therein contained, must in 
their ultimate design and tendency, perfectly har- 
monize with them ; so that the whole word of 
God, may, in the comprehensive language of the 
angel, be declared " good tidings of great joy, 
which shall be to all people." 

From this perfect harmony of the scriptures, it 
follows, that all punishments therein denounced 
upon the wicked, must be intended to reform the 
transgressor, and thereby fit him to be partaker of 
the promises ; so that the threatenings may all be 
fully accomplished, and yet the promises all be re- 
alised ; nay more, they are in the plan of infinite 
wisdom and grace, necessary as preparatives, for 
the fulfilment of the promises. There is an in- 
describable beauty seen, by viewing the scriptures 
in this pleasing light ; for the doctrines explain 
the grounds, nature and import of the promises ; 



THE PROMISES OF GOD. 141 

the threatenings warn us of the evils of sin, and 
awaken us to a sense of our need of the blessings 
promised by the gospel ; a4id the precepts teach us 
how to obtain and enjoy the rich promises of 
grace here, and of glory hereafter. 

The benefits resulting from this glorious system 
of prornises, through one gracious Mediator, can 
be received only by faith — faith in Christ, faith in 
the promises, and not in the promises only, but 
also in the precepts and threatenings with which 
the sacred volume abounds ; for all parts of the 
scripture "being necessary to solvation, faith in all 
those parts, must be necessary to a saving faith. 
Without this faith, the promises, however great 
and glorious they may be, can have no power to 
comfort, Strengthen or encourage us. They re- 
main to us a dead letter, a mere nullity, till they 
are received as sacred and revealed truth. But 
when so received, they become " the power of 
God unto salvation." 

As well might we expect to enjoy the light of 
the sun in the firmament without eyes, as to pos- 
sess the promised blessings of grace without faith. 
This faith in revelation, is not only a source of 
consolation to the afflicted,. and a powerful support 
to the soul when the heart and the flesh are fail- 
ing at the approach of death; but it is also the 
most powerful spring to virtue and piety. Who 
would begin to build, if he had no faith he should 



142 PROOFS DRAWN FROM 

be able to finish ? What husbandman would feel 
courage in the spring, to go forth to the fields 
and cast in the appointed seed, protect and watch 
its growth with such interest and patience, were 
knot for his faith that in the harvest he should 
reap an abundant reward for his care and toil? 
Or what disciple could have felt the courage to 
follow his blessed Saviour through evil as well as 
good report, submit to the loss of all things, and 
to death itself, had he not believed his Lord, 
according to promise, would be with him always, 
make him more than a conquerer over death, and 
give to him a crown of everlasting life ? 

Having thus attempted to show the unity of the 
promises, the harmony of the promises with the 
other parts and doctrines of the scriptures, and 
the necessity of faith in them ; let us now in- 
quire whether God has promised in his word, the 
universal restoration, i. e. in the fulness of times, 
to subdue each of the human race to perfect obe- 
dience, and to brings them to be genuine chris- 
tians in temper, spirit, and feeling ; and thus make 
them heirs of his everlasting kingdom ? Which 
if we succeed to do, it will then be proved that 
all the scriptures support the doctrine, and that 
faith in it is necessary to salvation. 

For the purpose of this inquiry, we may divide 
the promises into those which declare the divine 
purpose to remove the sources of evil, or the 



THE PROMISES OF GOD. 143 

obstructions in the way of human happiness ; and 
secondly, those that describe the good he will 
confer. 

The general and special sources of human mis- 
ery are sin, sorrow and death. Sin is the general 
source of all sufferings ; although sorrow and death 
are second causes of great anguish and pain in the 
world. Were men to be separated from sin, they 
would be free from death, sorrow, and every cause 
of human disquiet. And if they were exempt 
from death, and the other causes of grief they 
would also be free from the dominion and influ- 
ences of sin. Now the first class of the promises 
to which we have alluded, very plainly announces 
the destruction of all these sources of human wo. 
As, 1st. of sin. St. Johni. 29. " Behold the Lamb 5 
of God that taketh away the sin of the world." 
Daniel ix. 24. " Seventy weeks are determined 
upon thy people and upon thy holy city, to finish' 
the transgression, and to make an end of sins, and 
to make reconciliation for iniquity, and to bring in 
everlasting righteousness, and to seal up the vision 
and prophecy, and to anoint the Most Holy." St. 
Matt. i. 21. "Thou shall call his name Jesus; 
for he shall save his people from their sins." 1 John 
ii. 2. " And he is the propitiation for our sins ; and 
not for ours only, but also for the sins of the whole 
world." Heb. ix. 26. " Now once, in the end of 
the world, hath he appeared to put away sin, by 



144 PROOFS DRAWN FROM 

the sacrifice of himself." Phil. ii. 10, 11. "That 
at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of 
things in heaven, and things in earth, and things 
under the earth ; and that every tongue should 
confess, that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of 
God the Father." 1. Cor. xv. 25. " For he must 
reign until he hath put all enemies under his feet." 
These promises of God show in the clearest man- 
ner, that it is the divine purpose, and the office of 
Christ, to restrain transgression, make an end of 
sin offerings, as offered by the law, which he did, 
by becoming the Lamb of God, to take away the 
sin of the worlds that he will save his people, not 
only believers, but -the whole world from their 
sins ; and that he will make an end of rebellion, 
bring every creature to bow to his authority, in 
heaven, in the earth, and under the earth, and al- 
so to abandon their infidelity, confess him Lord and 
Saviour, so that in the universe there will not be 
found one single enemy to Jesus, one despiser of 
his gospel, or one sinner* before God. Such are 
the promises. Do they not plainly declare that 
sin shall be separated from the hearts and lives of 
the whole intelligent creation ; and so forever be 
destroyed and borne away ? 

2. Another great source of sufferings, which 
God has promised to remove, is death ; see Isaiah 
xxv. 8. "He will swallow up death in victory." 
Hosea xiii. 14. "I will ransom them from the 



THE PROMISES OF GOD. 145 

power of the grave ; I will redeem them from 
death ; O death, I will be thy plagues ; O grave, 
I will be thy destruction ; repentance shall be hid 
from mine eyes." 1. Cor. xv. 26, 54. " The last 
enemy that shall be destroyed is death. So when 
this corruptible shall have put on incorruption, 
and this mortal shall have put on immortality, then 
shall be brought to pass the saying that is written, 
Death is swallowed up in victory. O death ! where 
is thy sting ? O grave ! where is thy victory ?" 
Revelations xxi. 4. " And there shall be no more 
death." According to these passages, God has 
most solemnly promised, to overcome and conquer 
death, ransom its subjects, and destroy the place 
of its dominion ; so that nothing, bearing the 
name or having the properties of death, shall be 
found any more. Let it be here noted, that while 
one of the human race remains subject to death, 
temporal or spiritual, the saints will never be able 
to sing in shouts of triumph, O death ! where is 
thy sting ? O grave ! (hell) where is thy victory? 
But that they will have such a glorious victory lo 
sing, who can doubt ? Since God will hide re- 
pentance, or change of purpose, from his eyes, till 
it be accomplished ; and St. Paul has assured us, 
that, " As in Adam all die, evon so, in Christ shall 
all be made alive." 

3. The last source and proof of misery among 

men, now to be mentioned, which God has promis- 

19 



146 PROOFS DRAWN FROM 

ed to take away from the world, is that of sorrow, 
grief, despair. The following are the promises 
referred to ; Isaiah, xxv. 8. " The Lord will 
wipe away tears from off all faces." Revelation 
xxi. 4. " And God shall wipe away all tears from 
their eyes ; and there shall be no more death, nei- 
ther sorrow, nor crying, neither shall there be any 
more pain ; for the former things are passed away."' 
These, with many other passages of like import, 
prove most conclusively, first, that God will wipe 
tears from off all faces ; second, that he will wipe 
all tears from each face. And third, that there shall 
be no more weeping ; for all the causes of grief 
w T ill have passed away. 

Therefore, by this class of the promises, God 
has given us the strongest assurance that he will, 
by the agency and grace of Jesus Christ, take 
away the sins of the whole world, making an end 
of its dominion oyer the human mind ; that he will 
destroy death, release all that have been, are, or 
shall be subject to its power, and bring all weep- 
ing, grief and sorrow to a final end. 

Having thus noticed the promises which speak of 
the destruction of sin and misery ; we now come to 
those that confer happiness. Of this class are 1. 
The great leading covenant promise made of God 
to Abraham. When God called Abraham to leave 
his country and kindred, he gave him several great 
promises, and concluded with these gracious words, 



THE PROMISES OF GOD. 147 

" And in thee shall all the families of the earth be 
blessed." See Gen. xii. 1, 2, o. And after he 
had passed the trial of offering up his son, it pleas- 
ed Jehovah to confirm these promises by an oath, 
saying, "By myself have I sworn, saith Jehovah, 
for because thou hast done this thing, and hast not 
withheld thy son thine only son : in blessing 1 
will bless thee," &c. " And in thy seed shall all 
the nations of the earth be blessed : because thou 
hast obeyed my voice." Gen. xxii. 15, 18. This 
same glorious promise was renewed to Isaac, in 
these words, "And 1 will perform the oath which 
I swore unto Abraham thy father, ^c. And in 
thy seed shall all the nations of the earth be 
blessed. Because that Abraham obeyed my voice, 
#*c. Gen. xxvi. 3, 4. 5. And the same was con- 
firmed unto Jacob, in nearly the same language, 
" And in thee, and in thy seed shall all the fami- 
lies of the earth be blessed." Gen. xxviii. 14. 

This glorious promise, the apostle calls the gos- 
pel preached by Jehovah, see Gal. iii. 8. " And 
the scripture foreseeing that God would justify 
the heathen through faith, preached before the 
gospel unto Abraham, saying, in thee shall all na- 
tions be blessed." "Now to Abraham and his 
seed were the promises made : he saith not, And 
to seeds as of many ,* but as of one, And to thy 
seed, which is Christ." Ver. 16. 

Surely, all nations, families, and kindreds of 



148 PROOFS DRAWN FROM 

the earth, intend mankind without any exception ; 
and they all are to be blessed in Christ, with the 
gospel blessings of justification and life eternal, 
according to St. Paul's commentary of this prom- 
ise of God made to the fathers : which is the 
foundation of the gospel, and the only ground of 
the faith delivered to the saints. 

2. Those which proclaim the universal spread of 
the gospel, see Isaiah xlv. 23. " 1 have sworn by 
myself, the word has gone out of my mouth in 
righteousness, and shall not return, that unto me 
every knee shall bow, and every tongue shall 
swear." " For as the rain cometh down, and the 
snow from heaven, and returneth not thither, but 
watereth the earth, and maketh it bring forth and 
bud, that it may give seed to the sower, and bread 
to the eater ; so shall my word be that goeth forth 
out of my mouth ; it shall not return unto me 
void ; but it shall accomplish that which I please, 
and prosper in the thing whereto I sent it." " For 
this is the covenant that I will make with the 
House of Israel, after those days, saith the Lord, 
I will put my laws into their mind, and write them 
in their hearts ; and I will be to them a God, and 
they shall be to me a people ; and they shall not 
teach every man his neighbor, and every man his 
brother, saying know the Lord ; for all shall know 
me, from the least to the greatest. Isaiah lv. 10, 
11. Heb. viii. 10,11. 



THE PROMISES OF GOD. 149 

These scripture promises not only assert that 
the gospel which God sent into all the world, and 
commanded to be proclaimed to every creature, 
will universally prevail ; but also that it will be 
written in the hearts of all men, from the least to 
the greatest, producing a most hearty and willing 
subjection to the divine will, and effecting all the 
purposes of its revelation. 

3. Those which describe the extent of the Mes- 
siah's kingdom and reign. Psalm ii. 7, 8. " I will 
declare the decree; the Lord hath said unto me, 
thou art my son ; this day have I begotten thee. 
Ask of me,and I shall give thee the heathen for thine 
inheritance, and the uttermost parts of the earth 
for thy possession." " I saw in the night visions, 
and behold, one like the Son of Man came with 
the clouds of heaven, and came to the Ancient of 
Days, and they brought him near before him. And 
there was given him dominion, and glory, and a 
kingdom, that all people, and nations, and lan- 
guages, should serve him ; his dominion is an ev- 
erlasting dominion, which shall not pass away, and 
his kingdom that which shall not be destroyed." 
"And the kingdom and dominion, and the great- 
ness of the kingdom under the whole heaven, shall 
be given to the people of the saints of the Most 
High, w r hose kingdom is an everlasting kingdom, 
and all dominions shall serve and obey him." "And 
the seventh angel sounded ; and there were great 



150 PROOFS DRAWN FROM 

voices inheaven,saying, The kingdoms of this world 
are become the kingdoms of our Lord, arid of his 
Christ; and he shall reign forever arid ever." u He 
that descended is the same also that ascended up 
far above all heavens, that he might fill all things. 
And he gave some, apostles ; and some, prophets ; 
and some, evangelists ; and some, pastors and 
teachers ; for the perfecting of the saints, for the 
work of the ministry, for the edifying of the body 
of Christ ; till we all come in the unity of the 
faith, and of the knowledge of the'Son of God un- 
to a perfect man, unto the measure of the stature 
of the fulness of Christ." 

" Wherefore God also hath highly exa'ted him, 
and given him a name which above every name ; 
that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of 
things in heaven, and things in earth, and things 
under the earth , and that every tongue should 
confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of 
God the Father. Dan. vii. 13, 14, 27. Eev. xi. 
15. Eph. iv. 10, 11, 12, 13. Phil. ii. 9, 10 11. 

These prophetic promises, (for so we view them) 
give assurance that the kingdom of Christ will 
continue its growth, until it embraces in its 
bosom all people, nations, and kingdoms of this 
world not only, but all who have passed to the 
world of spirits, each being of one faith, and 
perfect in Christ, so that he will be reverenced 
and admired as King of Kings, and Lord of the 



THE PROMISES OF GOD. 151 

dead and living. What a glorious dominion will 
that be, which our Lord will extend over all men 
in this, and a future world, as his redeemed, wil- 
ling, and happy subjects, bound to him by perfect 
love and gratitude. 

4. Those which contrast evil with good, show- 
ing that the latter will greatly surpass the former ; 
that the good, by Christ, will more than balance 
the evils, by Adam. " For since by man came 
death, by man came also the resurrection of the 
dead. For as in Adam, all die, even so in Christ 
shall all be made alive." 1. Cor. xv. 21, 22. 
" Wherefore, as by one man, sin entered 1 into the 
world, and death by sin; and so death passed up- 
on all men, for that all have sinned ; therefore, as 
by the offence of one, judgment came upon all 
men to condemnation ; even so by the righteous- 
ness of one, the free gift hath come upon all men 
unto justification of life. For as by one man's 
disobedience many were made sinners ; so by the 
obedience of one, shall many be made righteous. 
Moreover the law entered, that the offence might 
abound : but where sin abounded, grace did much 
more abound ; that as sin had reigned unto death, 
even so might grace reign through righteousness un- 
to eternal life, by Jesus Christ our Lord." u Be- 
cause the creature itself also shall be delivered from 
the bondage of corruption, into the glorious liber- 
ty of the sons of God." Rom. v. 12, 18, 19,20, 
21. and viii. 21. 



152 PROOFS DRAWN FROM 

Here we have the apostle's contrast of death by 
Adam, with the resurrection by Christ — of con- 
demnation for sin, with justification by grace — of 
sin, with righteousness — of the limited reign of 
misery, with the endless reign of happiness — of the 
bondage of corruption, with the glorious liberty of 
the sons of God — and of the number that sinned, 
with the number that shall be saved. And what 
is the result of this contrast ? Answer, this is the 
result ; the same persons that die in Adam are to 
be made alive in Christ ,* the same persons that 
are made sinners by the disobedience of Adam, 
will be justified by the obedience of Jesus Christ ,* 
and all who groan in the bondage of corruption, 
will possess the glorious liberty of the sons of God. 
What a glorious and universal restoration is here 
promised of the whole sinful, suffering, and dying 
face of Adam ! A restoration to life, purity, joy, 
and glory ; wherein grace shall abound beyond 
the reign of sin, and righteousness extend its do- 
minion beyond the power of death, in an eternity 
of bliss and glory. 

We now ask what evils do exist in the universe 
that God has not promised to destroy ? What good 
that can be imagined for the human race, is there, 
that God has not promised to bestow ? 

Now for the confirmation of our faith, and the 
encouragement of our obedience, let us notice that 
the promises of God, on each of the above men- 



THE PROMISES OF GOD. 153 

tioned subjects, lead us to the same conclusion ; and 
each in their result, perfectly sustain the final res- 
titution of the whole human race. For if the sin 
of the world be separated from it, and taken away ; 
then the world must be holy and happy ; if death 
be destroyed, all must have life eternal ; if all 
tears be wiped from all faces, then perfect joy 
must be the portion of each ; if every man of ev- 
ery nation be blessed and justified in Christ, the 
seed of Abraham, then guilt and sufferings must 
cease forever ; if the true gospel and kingdom of 
Christ prevail over the whole e^rth and be written 
in every heart, and not only this, but if every knee 
" of things in heaven, things in earth, and things 
under the earth," shall bow to Christ, and every 
tongue confess him to be Lord to the glory of God 
the Father ; then must the restoration to perfec- 
tion and felicity be strictly universal, and the reign 
of righteousness extend infinitely beyond that of 
sin, misery, and death. Not only do all the prom- 
ises but every part of the scriptures, even the 
threatenings and judgments of God, according to 
this plan, promote the cause of righteousness and 
salvation. What a foundation is here laid for our 
faith, hope and consolation ; what gentle cords of 
love draw us to the obedience of him, in whom are 
all the promises of grace and of glory ; what a ra- 
tional and filial fear restrains us from the love of 

sin ; and what a light spreads itself over the sa- 

20 



154 PROOFS DRAWN FROM 

cred pages, reconciling them in the most perfect 
harmony ? 

Thy judgments, O God, are right ; and thy 
promises full of mercy. What thou dost prohibit 
in thy wisdom, that help us to shun ; and what 
thou hast promised, O help us to believe with the 
heart, and obey that our souls may take hold on 
eternal life. Let the moral universe experience 
the blessed fruition of all thy promises ; and to thy 
name be the glory, in Christ Jesus, amen and 
amen. 



LECTURE IX, 

PROOFS OF THE FINAL RESTORATION. 



ST. MATTHEW V. 44, 45. 

" BUT I SAT UNTO YOU, LOVE YOUR ENEMIES, BLESS THEM THAT 
CURSE YOU, DO GOOD TO THEM THAT HATE YOU, AND PRAY FOR 
THEM THAT DESPITEFU1,LY USE YOU, AND PERSECUTE YOU ; THAT 
YE MAY BE THE CHILDREN OF YOUR FATHER WHICH IS IN HEA- 
VEN ; FOR HE MAKETH HIS SUN TO RISE ON THE EVIL AND ON THE 
GOOD, AND SENDETH HIS RAIN ON THE JUST AND ON THE UNJUST." 

The morality of the Jews, as well as that of Gen- 
tiles, was extremely defective. It was so fram- 
ed by its teachers, as to be selfish and partial in 
its operation, it placed a part of the human race 



156 PROOFS DRAWN FROM 

beyond the sympathies and services of the rest of 
mankind ; it allowed of causeless anger, contempt 
and lust, provided they did not break out into 
overt acts ; it weakened the filial respect due from 
children to parents; and it failed properly to 
unite piety and virtue, — love to God, and love to 
man, as essential and correlative branches of true 
religion. 

The basis of christian morality is supreme love 
to God, and universal benevolence to mankind ; 
for the gospel which reveals the greatness of God's 
love to the world, also enjoins upon every crea- 
ture the most profound reverence and love for 
the Deity, and the most sincere good will to each 
other. These principles carried out into actions, 
produce a cheerful and conscientious performance 
of all such acts and services as express reverence, 
trust, love and gratitude to the Most High; and 
also all such acts of justice, truth, and mercy, as 
express sympathy, fellow feeling, and good will to 
men. Therefore the same revelation, which teach- 
es the destiny that God has, in his great love, pur- 
posed for us his rational creatures, contains also 
all those precepts, by obedience to which, we 
may express our piety and benevolence, and be 
prepared to enjoy the condition he has assigned 
us .; and hence the scriptures are the only standard 
of christian faith, and the only perfect manual of 
moral duty. 



NATURE AND TENDENCY OF MORALITY. 157 

The precepts of morality, touching the duty of 
man to man, found in the gospel, are the divine 
will in regard to our conduct towards ourselves 
and fellow creatures. And morality, thus un- 
derstood, is a part, yea an important part of reli- 
gion ; and it also makes a part of the perfect 
moral government of God, which extends over 
all intelligent beings, whether angelic or hu- 
man, and whether living in this or a future 
world. Hence, as the purposes and govern- 
ment of the Supreme Ruler of Heaven and 
Earth extend over this and a future state, it 
must be plain that christian morals will in princi- 
ple, be the same in a future state, as they are in this 
state, and equally necessary to the future as they 
are to the present happiness of men and angels. 

For if God be unchangeable, and the nature and 
purposes of his moral dominion be immutable- — if 
the nature of man, and of human felicity, be the 
same in all worlds ; then if God requires his chil- 
dren to love each other here, he will alwavs re- 
quire them to do so; and if it be right for chris- 
tians to respect justice, mercy and truth, in their 
feelings and conduct towards each other and the 
world now, it will never cease to be ri^ht for them 
to continue so doing. 1 his view of moralitv ren- 
ders it truly sacred, adds much to its authority 
and importance, and should awaken us to a lively 
sense of the vast interest we have in gaining a 



168 PROOFS DRAWN FROM THE 

correct understanding of it for ourselves, and of 
the high obligations which rest upon us to aid its 
universal diffusion through the earth. 

Now as the character and designs of an earthly 
law-giver are known by the character and tenden- 
cy of the laws he enacts ; as the wisdom and vir- 
tue of a father are plainly inferrable from the wise 
and salutary rules of moral conduct which he pre- 
scribes for the government of his children ; so the 
benevolence of God, and his purpose to make the 
intelligent universe ultimately holy and happy, are 
proved by the tendency of the moral precepts of 
the bible to effect that most desirable object. 

Thus we " make the tree good and its fruit 
good," which is of all others the most satisfactory 
method of arriving at truth. For who can rea- 
sonably doubt the patriotism of that legislator, all 
of whose acts tend to the promotion of the pub- 
lic good ? Then who can doubt the design of the 
Ruler of the Universe to effect the restoration of 
all his erring children, when all his moral prohibi- 
tions and requirements tend to reform, and thus to 
restore the whole sinful world to the performance 
of their duty, and to the enjoyment of perfect 
happiness, through the mediation of his blessed 
son, and by the ministry of his word and spirit ? 

This sentiment we shall now attempt to sustain, 
by an inquiry into what is prohibited, and what is 
enjoined by christian morality ; and by showing 



NATURE AND TENDENCY OF MORALITY. 159 

that both the prohibitions and injunctions of the 
word of God tend to produce and perpetuate uni- 
versal happiness. 

First then, the Almighty Guardian of the hu- 
man race, who is also the avenger of their wrongs, 
has solemnly prohibited the doing of the least in- 
jury or wrong to any one of our fellow creatures 
in their persons, their properties, or their reputa- 
tions ; the uttering of falsehood one to another, 
or the rendering of evil for evil to any. All fraud, 
prevarication, revenge, injustice and violence, are 
most peremptorily forbidden, by the scriptures, 
Rom. xiii. 7, 8. Eph. iv. 25. 2. Cor. viii. 21. 
Not only are all injurious actions prohibited, but 
we are commanded not to be angry with a broth- 
er without cause ; not to speak evil of any man ; 
not to raise evil reports ourselves against a neigh- 
bor, or spread them when raised by others. Matt. 
v. 21, 22. Titus iii. 2. But when angry with 
sufficient cause, we are not to retain it, lest it de- 
generate into malice ; therefore "let not the sun 
go down upon your wrath" is the solemn injunc- 
tion of the Apostle. 

We are forbidden to pass rash judgments upon 
others, lest we should be judged of God ; and even 
to " think evil" of them, is a violation of christian 
duty. We may indeed be compelled to see or 
know evil, but we are never to surmise or think it 
of any, without proof, 



160 PROOFS DRAWN FROM THE 

What a protection is here guaranteed to every 
son and daughter of Adam against evil actions, 
words, passions, and designs ! by him who conde- 
scends to make their cause his own, and proclaims 
"vengeance is mine, I will repay, saith the Lord." 

Second. Nor is christian morality merely neg- 
ative; it enforces in the most explicit terms, 
the duty of doing good to all men, as far as we 
have ability and opportunity— to assist them in their 
necessities and distresses, to sympathise with them 
in afflictions and sorrows, and to be ready to distri- 
bute of our worldly substance and earnings to 
their relief and comfort ; to endeavor to convert 
them from the error of their way, and to reprove 
their faults in the spirit of kindness and meekness; 
and always and by all means to do all in our pow- 
er to promote their temporal and spiritual welfare. 
Gal. vi. 10. 1. Tim. vi. 18. Heb. xiii. 3, 16. 
James v. 20. Gal. vi. 1. Rom. xii. 15. 

By far the most difficult part of our duty towards 
mankind, is that which relates to enemies, slander- 
ers, and persecuters; to these we are enjoined the 
exercise of a mild and forgiving temper, and not 
to be overcome of evil but to overcome evil with 
good. And not f this merely ; but to love ene- 
mies, and to pray for slanderers and persecuters, 
that they may see the evil of their way, and turn to 
the path of duty, is required by Christ and his 
apostles, as things which should distinguish their 



NATURE AND TENDENCY OF MORALITY. 161 

followers. Matt. v. 44. Rom. xii. 17, 21. l.Thes. 
v. 15. 1. Pet. iii. 9. 

From these general precepts, it is most manifest 
that the gospel founds the duties of mankind to 
each other on love ; and that it is the great and con- 
stant object to recommend and enforce the prac- 
tice of universal benevolence, without which there 
can be no perfect morality, and no true religion. 

Besides the general precepts prescribing the du- 
ties of justice and benevolence to the whole race 
of man, the gospel abounds in particular injunc- 
tions to those who occupy the several stations and 
relations of civil and social life, which are of the 
highest importance to nations, families, and indi- 
viduals. It requires rulers to be the just, vigilant, 
and impartial protectors of their people ; and the 
people to be submissive and obedient to their rul- 
ers, praying for their prosperity in righteousness, 
and rendering them all due support. It requires 
parents to protect, instruct, govern, and train up 
their children for usefulness and happiness ; and 
children to respect and obey their parents. It in- 
structs masters to be kind to their servants, remem- 
bering that they also have a master in heaven ; and 
servants are required to be faithful, rendering ser- 
vice as to the Lord. Husbands are instructed to 
love, cherish, protect, and support their wives ; and 
wives directed to love, respect, and promote the 

happiness of their husbands, and the order of their 

21 



162 PROOFS DRAWN FROM THE 

families ; that by their united examples, prayers, 
and efforts, their children maybe holy to the Lord. 
Likewise, superiors and inferiors, the elder and the 
younger, the rich and the poor, are directed to a 
proper course of conduct towards each other ; and 
precepts are given to regulate the deportment of 
equals among themselves, instructing them to be 
courteous, in honor preferring one another, not 
willingly giving offence to any, and endeavoring as 
far as possible to live peaceably with all men. St. 
Matt. xxii. 21. Rom. xiii. 1,2. 1 Tim. ii. 1, 
2. Tit. iii. 1. 1 Pet. ii. 13, 15. Eph. vi. 5,9, 
Col. iii. 22, 25, iv. 1. 1 Tim. vi. 1, 2. Tit. ii. 2, 9, 
10, 11. Eph. v. 22, 33. Col. iii. 18, 19. Tit. 
ii. 4, 5. 1 Pet. iii. 8. Horn. xii. 10, 11, 18. 1. 
Cor. x. 32. Phil. ii. 3. 1 Pet. ii. 17, iii. 8, 5. 

In regard to those duties which relate more 
particularly to ourselves, Christianity imposes upon 
its followers the habitual exercise of meekness, 
sobriety, temperance, chastity ; with humility, 
cheerfulness, and thanksgiving — to maintain a due 
degree of self respect, to assert their rights with 
prudence, and to cultivate their mental, moral, 
and social natures ; and thus to arrive at perfec- 
tion. Eph. iv. 26, 27, 31, 32. Col. iii. 12, 14. 
1 Cor. vi. 9, 10. Eph. v. 20. Eph. iv. 1. 1 
Tim. iv. 12. Phil. iv. 4. Acts xxii. 25. Eph. iv. 13. 

Such are briefly the outlines of the morality of 
the gospel ; a morality admirably suited to the 



NATURE AND TENDENCY OF MORALITY. 163 

condition and character of human nature as it de- 
velopes itself in society ; and which is perfectly 
congenial with the pure and sacred doctrines of 
revelation, as flowing with them from the same 
fountain of wisdom and goodness, and designed to 
aid the accomplishment of the same high and holy 
purposes ; which brings us, 

Thirdly. To inquire into its tendency. Does 
it not manifestly conduce to moral and personal 
happiness, by regulating the temper, passions and 
affections, furnishing the mind with those noble 
sentiments of justice, benevolence, and charity, 
which inspire it with inward peace, and heavenly 
joy ; and also by securing the body from injury, 
disease, and suffering, through unnecessary expo- 
sure and excess ? Does it not promote social happi- 
ness, by prohibiting whatever could break the peace 
or embitter the relations of society ; and by also 
exciting all those dispositions of heart, and friend- 
ly offices of life, which render the intercourse of 
its members most useful and happy ? Does it not 
afford a most pleasing view of human nature, as 
being allied to one Supreme Father, and as a band 
of brothers, under mutual obligations of love and 
good will to each other ? And in what a heavenly 
light does it present the Mighty Ruler of heaven 
and earth, as a father in the midst of his vast fam- 
ily, giving them such wise, just, and salutary di- 
rections, in regard to their conduct towards one 



164 PROOFS DRAWN FROM THE 

another, as tends to produce among all its mem- 
bers the most perfect intelligence, safety, harmo- 
ny, and happiness ? 

Therefore we conclude that the morality of the 
gospel tends to promote and perfect the welfare, 
not of a part of mankind only, but of the whole 
human race. The promised rewards to obedience, 
and all experience as far as experience extends, 
unite to confirm us in this conclusion. So far as men 
have departed from this course of moral conduct, 
they have been scourged with personal and social 
calamity ; sickness, grief, discontent, contention, 
and war, have kept pace with the departure. To 
such degree as it has been reduced to practice by na- 
tions and communities, those nations and communi- 
ities have been united, intelligent, prosperous, and 
happy. If there have been exceptions to this rule, 
those ex ceptions have been the effect of predomi- 
nant vice in others, and not of any defect in the 
rule itself. 

Having shown that God has prohibited the ex- 
ercise of all such principles, and the performance 
of all such acts, as tend to produce misery ; is it 
not, therefore most evident that he did not create 
men for the purpose of making them, or allowing 
them to be made miserble, by themselves or oth- 
ers, as the object of their creation ? And if, aswill 
not be denied, he has commanded them, and all of 
them to cultivate and exercise all such tempers 



NATURE AND TENDENCY OF MORALITY. 165 

feelings, and virtues, as make men happy ; then, 
does it not also follow that he created them all for 
happiness, as their final destination ? Can there be 
any doubt on this subject ? Is there any doubt 
whether the morality of Christianity tends to the 
universal peace and well being of mankind ? Let 
us suppose all men to be perfect in the practice of 
all the moral precepts of the gospel ; and then 
would they not all be happy ? Most certainly this 
must be admitted. Then, if God has required all 
men to do what will make them happy, does he 
not will that they should be happy ? 

Again, if the precepts and doctrines of Chris- 
tianity came from the same source, partake of the 
same spirit, and harmonise as do the tree and fruit ; 
then as the precepts tend to make the whole hu- 
man race happy, must it not also follow, that all 
the doctrines of the gospel have the same gracious 
tendency ? Were it true that obedience to the doc- 
trines and precepts of religion, conduced to hu- 
man misery ; then we should rationally think that 
its Divine Author purposed the misery of man- 
kind. But as the reverse is so manifestly true, 
we are constrained to believe that God ever has, 
does, and ever will purpose the final and universal 
salvation of his rational creatures. 

Should it be admitted that the excellent morali- 
ty of the bible leads to happiness in the same 
sphere in which it is obeyed ; but at the same 



166 PROOFS DRAWN FROM THE 

time, be objected that it can only make men hap- 
py through their obedience to its injunctions, we 
answer, this is admitting all we ask ; as it affords 
the two following inferences, 

1. That God wills that all should obey, and 2, 
that those who obey should be happy. If there- 
fore the Divine Author of this scheme of morality 
purposes it as the rule of conduct to be submitted 
to by the world ; will he not employ effectual 
means to accomplish this purpose, by inducing an 
universal obedience ? 

Let us now, my friends, consider briefly some 
of those circumstances which encourage the be- 
lief that the excellent principles of moral conduct 
and feeling, enjoined by the New Testament will, 
sooner or later, be observed by the fulness of man- 
kind. The first circumstance to which your at- 
tention is invited is this, viz. that the capacity 
of obedience, (being an inherent capacity in the 
soul, not proceeding from the present mode of our 
being, nor any future mode that may be given us,) 
will always accompany us, not only in this but a 
future state. To maintain the contrary, would be 
to deny that the soul will always in all worlds pos- 
sess the power of loving its Maker and fellow crea- 
tures ; which would be making it an unfit subject 
for moral government, incapable alike of being mor- 
ally happy or miserable. 



NATURE AND TENDENCY OF MORALITY. 167 

2. There never will come a period when God 
will not require of every soul obedience to the 
Gospel in thought, feeling, and all such exercises 
as the mode of its existence renders contributary 
to the honor of God, and to happiness of men ; 
and therefore all his administrations towards men 
in every possible condition, must, either directly 
or indirectly, tend to effect in them those exercis- 
es and sentiments. 

3. This code of pure and holy morals, is so 
connected with the heavenly doctrines of revela- 
tion as the fruit is with the tree that produces it ; 
and consequently, as the doctrines of the gospel 
furnish the motives to their practice, if the fruit be 
not good it will prove the tree is not good. 

4. The moral precepts of the gospel are ex- 
pressed in the clearest manner, and without the' 
least ambiguity, describing not not only what we 
are to do, and what we are not to do, and to whom, 
but setting forth in the plainest manner the 
principles, feelings, and motives, which are at all- 
times to influence us. 

So that he who desires to know his duty, and 
studies the scriptures for that purpose, cannot fail 
of learning it ; and not only this, but the ministers 
of Christ are directed to enforce it upon all peo- 
ple in all the world, and all parents required to 
impress a sense of it upon the tender minds of 
their children. To all which are added the pe- 



168 PROOFS DRAWN FROM THE 

culiar force of the most illustrious examples of Je- 
sus, his apostles, and of early christians. 

5. The principles of responsibility to a Father 
in heaven, who has all knowledge and all power, 
are made perfectly plain ; not being restrained to 
the present state, but extended to a future. So 
that on the one hand there is no danger of loosing 
our reward for well doing however, long it may be 
deferred,nor on the other, any possibility of escaping 
the just punishment of evil doing, though it be not 
speedily executed, except by a sincere and hearty 
repentance followed by a genuine reformation. 

6. The doctrine of rewards and punishments, 
connected with christian morality, and designed to 
act as motives to its obedience,are such as naturally 
excite our hopes and awaken our fears. The 
things promised are what we naturally most desire, 
and the evils threatened are those to which we 
have the most natural aversion. They are most 
reasonable, being just and salutary, according to 
our ivories, and the motives by which we are influ- 
enced therein. 

7. We have now and always shall have the 
greatest interest in believing the doctrines, and 
conforming to the precepts of Christianity. This 
interest cannot be affected by death ; for our hap- 
piness will depend on faith and reconciliation to 
God, in a future state, as much as it does in the 
present. 



NATURE AND TENDENCY OF MORALITY. 169 

And this interest will be made more and more 
apparent to us by the enlightning influences of the 
Holy Spirit which God will pour out upon all flesh, 
and also by our own experience, which will never 
cease to teach us that holiness of heart is neces- 
sary to our happiness. 

Now, if men will never cease to have the power 
to render obedience ; if God will never cease to re- 
quire it ; if it be the natural effects of the doctrines 
of the gospel, as good fruit is the effect of a good 
tree ; if the duty of it be so plainly expressed as that 
all may easily know it ; if all men are now and ever 
will be responsible to God who sees the heart; if 
the punishments as well as the rewards of the gos- 
pel tend to subdue and bring to obedience ; if man 
shall never cease to have an interest in conform- 
ing to the requirements of the gospel in regard to 
faith and practice, and if a thorough consciousness of 
that interest must and will be impressed on the 
heart of every man by the spirit of God, and by 
his own experience ; what, we respectfully ask, 
can prevent every creature from rendering a per- 
fect obedience to those doctrines and precepts 
which are essential to their happiness, the desire 
of which is the strongest desire of their natures ? 
Can they be forever deceived in so plain a mat- 
ter ; or continue forever knowingly, to sacrifice 
their own eternal happiness ? 

22 



170 PROOFS DRAWN FROM THE 

Further, the scriptures appeal to our sense of 
propriety and self respect, saying, " walk worthy 
of your holy calling ;" to our sense of justice and 
humanity, " do unto others as you would that 
they should do unto you ;" to the sense of pure 
gratitude to our blessed Lord, who said, " love 
one another as I have loved you," and " follow 
the Lamb whithersoever he goeth ;" and to the 
highest principle of emulation of which the soul 
is capable, requiring us to imitate our heavenly 
Father, which is at once our glory and happiness, 
saying " love your enemies, do good to them that 
hate you, and pray for them that despitefully use 
you and persecute you ; that ye may be the chil- 
dren of your Father which is in heaven, for he 
maketh his sun to rise on the evil and on the good, 
and sendeth his rain upon the just and upon the 
unjust." 

By all these and other motives does the gospel 
persuade us to flee from the wrath to come and 
the punishment of the disobedient, and seek to 
encourage us to gain the reward of the righteous, 
with the final plaudit of our judge at the last day, 
of " well done good and faithful servants, enter 
ye into the joy of your Lord." 

And He who instituted and employs these means, 
the merits and grace of his son Jesus Christ, and 
the influences of his holy and quickening spirit, to 
effect the obedience of the world, has assured us 



NATURE AND TENDENCY OF MORALITY. 171 

of their success, saying "my people shall be will- 
ing in the day of my power ;" so " that at the 
name of Jesus every ^knee shall bow, of things in 
heaven, (angels and men who have died in faith) 
and things in earth, (all men living in the millenium) 
and things under the earth, (all who shall have 
died in unbelief) ; and that every tongue shall con- 
fess, that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God 
the father ;" living " according to God in the 
spirit." Psa. 110, 3. Phil. ii. 9, 10. 1 Pet. iv. 6. 

Have we not now shown that the christian 
scheme of moral sentiments and conduct is found- 
ed on God's unlimited benevolence towards the 
human race, and conduces to universal happiness ? 
Have we not also answered the objection, that all 
will not yield obedience to these beneficent re- 
quirements, and therefore, will not be benefitted 
by them ; by showing that the motives to this 
obedience will and must ultimately prevail, and 
a universe be made to share in its benefits ? and is 
it not therefore true that the morality of the gos- 
pel, w 7 hile it justly endears itself to every reason- 
able and benevolent mind by its benign influence 
upon individuals and society, is a most practical 
and powerful witness in favor of the universal re- 
storation ? 

I now close by saying, " if ye know these things, 
happy are ye if ye do them ;" for he that practices 
the precepts of revealed religion, honors its doc- 



172 PROOFS DRAWN FROM THE 

trines, and adorns the christian profession, pro- 
motes his own best interest, advances the salvation 
of the world, and contributes to the praise and glory 
of God ; wherefore I pray that heaven will abun- 
dantly strengthen you unto every good word and 
work to do his will. 



LECTURE X. 

PROOFS OF THE FINAL RESTORATION. 



EPHESIANS, I. 9,10. 

" HAVING MADE KNOWN UNTO US THE MYSTERY OF HIS WILL, AC- 
CORDING TO HIS GOOD PLEASURE, WHICH HE HATH PURPOSED IN 
HIMSELF : THAT IN THE DISPENSATION OF THE FULNESS OF TIMES 
HE MIGHT GATHER TOGETHER IN ONE, ALL THINGS IN CHRIST, 
BOTH WHICH ARE IN HEAVEN, AND WHICH ARE ON EARTH ; EVEN 
IN HIM." 

This evening, we propose to finish the present 
course of lectures by presenting to your consid- 
eration the arguments in favor of the Universal Re- 
storation* deduced from the nature of man, and 



174 PROOFS DRAWN FROM THE 

the scriptural character of future happiness ; in- 
troductory to which, it is proper to notice some 
leading facts on the subject, stated in the text. 

First. That the will, purpose, and pleasure of 
God, on the great subject of man's redemption 
and destiny, are precisely the same ; it is there- 
fore no less his will, purpose, or decree, that ev- 
ery rational creature should sincerely repent, be- 
lieve and obey the gospel, than it is his desire, and 
good pleasure, that they should so do and be 
saved. 

Second. That it is the great object of Jehovah 
to subdue and unite under one spiritual ruler and 
head, even Christ, all the nations, and kindreds of 
men ; that they henceforth should forever enjoy 
his protection and favor, and be pure and happy 
in his service. 

Third. That there is a set time when this great 
purpose of the Lord shall be accomplished, i. e. 
" the dispensation of the fulness of times ;" and 
hence we may not expect it previous to that time, 
nor doubt of its being then accomplished. 

Fourth. That the kingdom of Christ, when 
perfected and united, will comprise all the inhabit- 
ants of earth and heaven ; so that not only all 
men and all angels will be under the dominion of 
Christ Jesus, their Lord and our's, but they will 
be gathered together, and united in their charac- 
ter and service — not separated. 



NATURE OF MAN, &C. 175 

On this subject, the best commentators agree 
that it is the glorious purpose of God to unite the 
Jews and Gentiles in the love and service of his 
son, Jesus Christ; to assemble the living and the 
dead in a future life of blessedness ; and to gather 
the multitude of asigels and the vast company of 
the redeemed, mutually to enjoy his kingdom, and 
forever to celebrate his praise ! 

What a blessed union will this be ! What a glo- 
rious gathering of souls to Christ ! The time of 
it, although future, will certainly come ; for the 
scriptures assert in a very distinct manner, that Je- 
sus must reign, till he hath subdued all things unto 
himself. And when this is done, but not before, 
he will resign the kingdom to the Father, that 
God may be all in all. 

This doctrine of God's will to unite all men and 
angels in Christ, at the close of his dispensations 
towards them, is, in the text, called a mystery ; 
but it is said to be such, only in reference to the 
time previous to its being fully revealed ; for since 
its revelation, it is capable of being clearly under- 
stood, and is supported by the most satisfactory 
scripture proofs, as well as from the nature of 
man, and his final state of happiness. 

What proof then, does this proposition derive 
from the nature and character of man ? 

In answering this inquiry, it must not be ex- 
pected that we shall enter upon a detailed and phi- 



176 PROOFS DRAWN FROM THE 

losophical investigation of human nature. It will be 
necessary only to call the attention to some general 
traits of character, belonging to the human race, 
in common with each other, to show that it is rea- 
sonable and scriptural that they should collectively 
as well as individually, be gathered to the same 
state of happiness ; and these we shall learn from 
the holy scriptures themselves. 

Man was distinguished in his creation from the 
from the whole animal race around him, by being 
made in the " image of God ;" by being formed 
last, and therefore, the most perfect in body, mind, 
and affections ; and by being placed over the other 
works of God. The care of the garden in which 
he was placed, and his dominion over all living on 
the earth and in the sea, liken him in his office 
and station, to the Supreme Governor of the uni- 
verse. Let it be noted that this dominion is ajoint 
dominion ; for, it is not true, to much extent, that 
any man individually has it : but associated, he 
holds it with ease. Hence the honor and advan- 
tages of it, belong to all as sharers. It is not so 
much the sway of physical as of mental power ; 
because reason and intelligence are the properties 
of the immortal soul, and not of the body. The 
soul is the seat of virtue, reason and skill ; and 
its influence and dominion are given, directed, 
and restrained by its Maker. It governs the body, 
in which it is placed, in a most wonderful manner, 



NATURE OF MAN, &C. 177 

directing its energies and restraining its propensi- 
ties, at its own will. And, by employing the body 
as its instrument, and by other means within its 
command, it governs the animal creation, traver- 
ses and subdues the earth, navigates the seas and 
gathers their treasure ; it erects governments, es- 
tablishes commerce, and cultivates the arts and 
sciences ; it erects cities, rears temples, and forms 
associations commensurate with earth itself. By 
it also he analyses the earth, the air, and the light ; 
ascends to the heavens, names, numbers and class- 
es the stars ; looks on the far distant planets, tra- 
ces their course in their mighty orbits, and reduces 
to system and harmony their vast and mazy move- 
ments in the immensity of space. And by faith, 
the soul explores a future and a higher world, lives 
a future life, ascends to the throne of its Maker, 
and lays up its treasure in heaven 

Now when we consider these distinctions and 
powers possessed by the creature man — the pecu- 
liar notice taken of his creation by the angels of 
God, those elder sons of paradise, who, as morning 
stars and sons of the Highest, sang together and 
shouted for joy at the birth of the great progenitor 
of men — when we reflect upon the vastness, the 
variety and usefulness of every part of the crea- 
tion placed under his control, and see that nothing 
was made in vain, is it reasonable to suppose that 

man, made for such dignity, and to confer such pro- 

23 



178 PROOFS DRAWN FROM THE 

tection and happiness on all other creatures, should 
himself be unhappy ? Here let it be remarked, that 
the happiness suited to the nature of man, is, like 
his dominion, a joint one ; and to be perfectly hap- 
py, they must all be happy. 

Again : The human family are one by nature ; 
for God "hath made of one blood all nations of 
of men, for to dwell on all the face of the earth." 
Therefore the national and other distinctions and 
differences, which exist among men, must all pass 
away, and one condition be finally assigned to 
them all, as most suited to their character as so- 
cial beings — as the offspring of one earthly pro- 
genitor, from whom they derived their common 
nature, capacities, senses, desires, and aversions— 
and as best compcrting with their responsibleness to 
one heavenly Father for the manner in which they 
employ their powers, and improve their means of 
happiness, individual and social. They possessed 
the earth, originally, as tenants in common, and 
are alike capable of living in every climate and 
region of it, and of finding there the comforts of 
life for their support ;. which shows that God is 
equally good to them as the inhabitants of this 
world, having made equal provision for their tem- 
poral happiness. 

Further, mankind have equally apostatised from 
their Maker, and violated their obligations to him; 
" for all have sinned and come short of the glory 



NATURE OF MAN, &C. 179 

of God." If therefore the purpose of the Lord be 
changed in regard to any, on account of sin, it 
must be equally changed in regard to all ; for all 
have sinned. Nor is this all. One Saviour hath 
come down from heaven to live, suffer and die 
for their universal redemption ; and if his media- 
tion be sufficient to restore any part, consistently 
with their free agency, why is it not so for the 
restoration of the residue ? 

Now, seeing the whole posterity of Adam in- 
herit his nature, his capacities, his obligations, and 
his guilt, by their descent from him, and by their 
adopting his character ; it in justice follows that 
his destiny will be theirs ; for if God created Ad- 
am for happiness, then he created all his descend- 
ants to share the same felicity ; for they, in their 
nature, are but the first man extended. To say 
therefore that God made the first and great pro- 
genitor of mankind for misery, would be saying 
that he intended the whole race for the same end ; 
which no one can admit for a moment. 

Hence we infer from the unity of human na- 
ture, the joint dominion given to it over the works 
of God, the similarity of the capacities of men, 
their equal responsibility and guilt, and the equal 
means provided for their welfare, here and here- 
after ; that they will not be separated from each 
other in their final destination. This inference is 
supported by the consideration of the vast and in- 



180 PROOFS DRAWN FROM THE 

comprehensible capacities of the human intellect 
for improvement in knowledge, virtue, and the so- 
cial principle ; by its capacity for the service of 
men, and for communion with God ; and by the 
actual proficiency which has been made in science, 
devotion, and philanthropy, by such persons as 
Newton, Fenelon, Howard, and many others. 
The principles which governed these men in their 
illustrious course, are capable of being brought to 
act on all human minds as a stimulent leading them 
to emulate the bright examples of their distin- 
guished lives. And to what heights of refinement, 
knowledge -and sympathy, is not the human mind 
capable of being advanced by the means of grace 
and the power of God ? Will the All- Wise Crea- 
tor, then, suffer such capacities to be forever lost to 
himself, to their possessors, and to the world ? 
Surely not. For God himself hath proclaimed his 
solemn purpose to bring them to be perfect, to be 
one in Christ — to be one in heaven. Eph. i. 10 ; 
iv. 13. Rev. v. 13. If such be not the purpose 
of God, why are all men called to the practice of 
virtue, and to seek a state of glory ? Why are we 
required to offer prayers for all, and to practice 
universal benevolence ? Why did Jesus give him- 
self a ransom for all ; send his gospel to every 
creature ; and promise the outpouring of the holy 
spirit upon all flesh ? Do not these things, which 
are admitted by all christians, show clearly that it 



NATURE OF MAN, &C. 181 

is the plan and counsel of the Lord, to bring all 
his rational creatures, as a united family, to glorify 
his name, and to enjoy his kingdom forever ? 

Second. Let us inquire into the proofs of this 
sentiment, afforded by the nature and character of 
the happiness of the redeemed, as described in the 
holy scriptures. It will be kept in mind that the 
question under discussion is this, viz. whether 
the final happiness of mankind will be universal, 
or extend only to a part. In seeking the evidence 
of its universality, we may first notice some things 
in regard to the nature of heavenly felicity ; which 
we shall attempt with a reverence befitting its sa- 
cred character. 

Heaven is a pure, spiritual and happy state of 
the perfected souls and bodies of the redeemed ; 
immortal, sanctified and forever delivered from all 
suffering and death, and blessed with the beatific 
vision of God, of Christ, and of angels — with 
a view of the unfolded mysteries of eternity, 
the glories of redemption, and the joy of saints 
— an enchanting sense of the divine favor, and 
of an overflowing gratitude for the unutterable 
grace which pitied and redeemed them, with 
the happy assurance of the endless perpetuity 
of all their bliss. It is not local, that is, its inhab- 
itants do not derive their happiness wholly from 
the place, but principally from the moral and re- 
conciled state of the soul — from a holy com- 
munion with God, and a sacred regard to each 



182 PROOFS DRAWN FROM THE 

other as fellow heirs of glory. Hence the idea 
that men can go there by means of any physical 
change, such as death or the resurrection, without 
any mental preparation or renewal of heart, is 
most visionary and unfounded. That, however, 
there is in the universe a place where God will 
make special manifestations of his glory ; where 
the saints will be gathered and united with the 
holy angels ; and where there will be appropriate 
and refined pleasures, suited to the spiritualised 
senses of the immortal body, and that this place is 
properly called heaven, is most likely. 

There is in the scriptures a great variety of im- 
agery employed to set forth the nature and felicity 
of this heavenly state. It is compared to a coun- 
try, abounding with health, peace, plenty, safety 
and righteousness ;— -whose rivers are pure, and 
whose trees are ever blooming and yielding their 
fruit every month ; — whose mountains are brought 
low, and whose valies are exalted, making one 
vast beautiful plain, beneath a glory far surpassing 
the brightness of the sun in his strength. To this 
" better country," the inhabitants of every region 
shall triumphantly and joyfully come to sit down 
" with Abraham, and Isaac, and Jacob," and share 
with them its happy society, and its blisful scenes. 

Again, it is likened to a kingdom, whose king is 
most wise, powerful and good ; whose laws are 
most righteous, holy and equal ; whose subjects are 



NATURE OF MAN, &C. 183 

the most united, secure, loyal, and happy. A 
kingdom which will swallow up the glory of all 
other kingdoms in its growth and grandeur, and 
surpass all other dominions in the perpetuity of its 
reign, and the eternity of its prosperity and splen- 
dor. To a city, with pearly gates and golden 
streets, — beautiful squares, and rich dwellings ; 
living fountains and righteous citizens. To a house 
eternal in the heavens, with spacious mansions, 
and sure foundations. To a rich and splendid 
feast, attended by numerous, intelligent, and con- 
genial guests. To a family of heavenly descent, 
divine parentage, rich inheritance, and numerous 
members, gathered from earth and heaven, to 
dwell together forever in the sweetest communion 
of fellowship and love. And to a chorus of celes- 
tial praise to God and the Lamb, in which every 
creature in the universe are performers on the 
golden harps of eternity, each contributing his 
share to the harmony and to the happiness of all. 

What is the principle that runs through all these 
images of future happiness ? Is it not that of asso- 
ciation or the combining of many in one body ? It 
requires many people to make a great and happy 
nation— many subjects to make a powerful and 
prosperous kingdom, and many citizens to compose 
a city of distinguished advantages. The same 
principle holds true in the case of an assembly, a 
family, or a concert of praise. Men individually 



184 PROOFS DRAWN FROM THE 

can perform or enjoy but little ; but when associ- 
ated in a proper manner, they can perform won- 
ders, and produce surprising sensations of pleasure 
and happiness. Human nature is decidedly so- 
cial, being formed to live in families, cities, and 
kingdoms ; but ultimately to be united in one uni- 
versal empire of peace and joy. 

Another principle observable in the above im- 
ages of happiness, is that of unity in the charac- 
ter, feelings and views of those who are associated, 
in order to their individual or social welfare and 
pleasure. For, " how can two walk together ex- 
cept they be agreed ?" But when all men " shall 
be of one heart and of one mind," and " see eye to 
eye ;?? then shall the knowledge and glory of the 
Lord fill the earth " as the waters cover the sea/' 

The happiness of heaven therefore, like the hap- 
piness Gf the present world, is social, and to be 
perfect, must be mutual, and to be mutual, all who 
share it must have the same qualifications. If 
then holiness be necessary to heaven, all who are 
admitted there, must possess it ; and if they are 
equally happy, must be equally holy. If repent- 
ance and faith be prerequisites to holiness, then 
those who leave this world in unbelief and impen- 
itence, are unholy and unprepared for heaven. Yet 
the felicity of heaven, to be perfect, must be uni- 
versal, and hence those that are not prepared in 
this life, must be qualified for it in another and fa- 



NATURE OF MAN, &C. 185 

ture, i. e. an intermediate state. And for this 
purpose, the means' of grace and repentance must 
as necessarily extend through the intermediate 
state, and the age of judgment, as does the king- 
dom of Christ, who " is Lord" and Ruler a of the 
dead and living," to whom all that die in unbelief 
must bow, according as we have shown in a pre- 
vious lecture. To illustrate the social nature of 
happiness, we may look at the descriptions of it, 
given above. Take for instance, that given un- 
der the idea of a family. The happiness of a 
family is strictly social and reciprocal ; for if " one 
member suffer, all the members suffer with 
it, or one member be honored, all the members 
rejoice with it," so that no one liveih or dieth 
to himself^ but each liveth for the good of the 
others. This agrees perfectly with our expe- 
rience ; for while one parent, brother or sis- 
ter of an affectionate family be sick, or suffers 
greatly in body or mind, every member shares the 
calamity. The same principle holds good in the 
case of a city ; if sickness and pestilence prevail ; 
if poverty and want oppress ; if vice and irreli- 
gion spread corruption among the youth, every 
citizen participates in the evil, and sympathises 
with the immediate sufferers. And it becomes 
more and more so v as the citizens become refined 
in their feelings, and improved in the religious, 

moral and social virtues of the heart. The lively 

24 



186 PROOFS DRAWN FROM THE 

and sincere christian, shares much more largely in 
the tribulations around him, than does the harden- 
ed and scoffing infidel. The happiness of good men, 
therefore, in the present world, is severely taxed 
by the criminal and innocent sufferings which ev- 
ery where salute his eyes, and appeal to his heart. 
Were there in our favored city, for the year to 
come, to be no sickness, death, mourning — no in- 
temperance, fraud, lasciviousness — no malice, evil 
speaking, or contention — but were perfect benevo- 
lence, cheerfulness and plenty to be universal a- 
mong us ; would not the happiness of the best 
men, and sincerest christians, be much advanced 
from what it now is ? Truly it would. But would 
it be as much so, if all the vicious were to be ban- 
ished, as if they were to be reformed ? Answer, O 
ye parents, who deplore the vices of some of your 
dear children ; answer it, every good citizen. Yet 
were the vicious already out of it, how should we 
be shocked at the proposal to admit them into such a 
peaceful and happy association, without their being 
first separated from their destructive and pestilen- 
tial vices! But if so prepared to add to our num- 
ber and happiness, how joyfully should we hail 
their admission ! " Even so there is joy among the 
angels of Cod over one sinner that repenteth." 

These principles applied to the whole human 
race, prove that as a family or city, cannot be per- 
perfectly blessed w 7 hile any of its members are 



NATURE OF MAN, &C. 187 

separated from them, or are vicious and miserable 
with them ; so no one of all mankind can be per- 
fect in felicity, until all their number are perfected 
in Christ, and joined with them in the joys of hea- 
ven. Hence, the social character of heaven, as 
well as the unity and sympathy of human nature, 
prove that happiness must be universal ; because 
otherwise it cannot be perfect, neither in degree, 
nor extent. 

Now he that wills the perfection of human fe- 
licity, will surely so refine the hearts of all his 
ransomed children, by his grace ; so quicken and 
expand their sympathies by the quickening power 
of the Holy Spirit ; and so enlarge their under- 
standings and views by the light of the gospel, as 
that they shall look upon all people as their breth- 
ren, love them as they do their own souls, and 
feel rising high in their sympathetic bosoms the 
raptures of heavenly joy at the safe arrival of each 
from the captivity of death and sin to the freedom 
of perfect rest in the paradise of God. And this 
noble sympathy, so completely resembling the 
compassion of Jesus who pitied a lost world and 
redeemed it by his ignominious and painful death, 
will be the source of the purest and sublimest 
pleasure, derived from the happiness of others ; 
but which, should one of the vast fraternity of the 
human race fail of gaining it, would fill heaven 
with weeping at the distant sound of his hopeless 
wailings in endless despair. 



188 PROOFS DRAWN FROM THE 

But, I forbear — Christ having wept over a fall- 
en world in the arms of death ; God will wipe 
tears from off all faces, that the followers of the 
Lamb may henceforth forever " rejoice with them 
that do rejoice." Here no mother will lament a 
daughter lost ; no father grieve over the ruin of a 
prodigal son. Here every soul will have felt the 
evil of sin, its need of a Saviour, and its obliga- 
tions to divine grace ; it will have passed the 
scenes of bitter repentance, stood before the judg- 
ment seat of Christ, plead guilty before God, 
sought and obtained pardon in the name of Jesus. 
Here each will wear the robes of a Saviour's 
grace, and be crowned with a Saviour's righteous- 
ness ; and all be united in perfect love to God and 
each other, and in celebrating the fadeless glories 
of redemption. 

This glorious restitution of all things, of which 
God hath spoken by the mouth of all his holy 
prophets since the world began, is a result of the 
christian system devoutly to be desired. It will be 
the capstone of the moral and spiritual temple of 
virtue and glory ; it will confer immortal honor 
and praise upon its divine founder and builder ; and 
it will be the source of endless joy and blessedness 
to the redeemed. To it there are no well founded 
objections, as has been shown. The scriptural 
views of election — that all are chosen of God to 
aid in rearing it, and finally to enjoy it, are in its 



NATURE OF MAN, &C. 189 

favour ; the condition and means of grace will all 
aid its completion ; the punishments of the wick- 
ed being not endless but emendatory, will be its 
powerful support ; and hence the genuine ten- 
dency of its prevalence in society, must be to 
check and remedy the spread of vice and irreligion, 
and to promote the triumph of virtue and piety 
among men. And not only this, but the united 
operation of all the attributes of God ; the mission, 
works, and death of Christ ; the united voice of 
revelation ; the tendency of the moral precepts of 
the gospel ; the nature of man, and the character 
of his future happiness, all join to establish it as 
the truth of God founded on the Rock of Ages. 

This doctrine also establishes the certainty of a 
future, just and equitable punishment for .those 
who die impenitent, and the gracious and salutary 
design of such a retribution ; and therefore proves 
most conclusively and rationally that the doctrine 
of no future punishment on*the one hand, and of 
endless misery on the other, are unscriptural and 
pernicious : the one releasing men from a suitable 
sense of their responsibility to God, and of their 
obligations to profess and obey the christian reli- 
gion, and the other clothing the character of God 
and of Christianity with an inexorable severity, sub- 
versive of the grand design of God to gather to- 
gether in one all things in Christ. 



190 PROOFS DRAWN FROM THE 

To conclude, my beloved brethren, I now com- 
mend to jour serious consideration and devout obe- 
dience, the doctrine of the restoration, as one 
most happily suited to make men truly religious 
without being superstitious ; liberal and cheer- 
ful, without levity and skepticism ; a doctrine 
equally necessary to the happiness of each, and one 
therefore in which all should feel an equal interest — 
against which there is no objection, and in fa- 
vor of which, reason and revelation both unite — 
which, when it shall be accomplished, will perfect 
the will of God, and answer the prayers of his 
saints ; exhibit the happy result of all the means 
of grace, and give to virtue and piety, their end- 
less triumph ; and thus fill the universe with the hal 
lelujahs of salvation and glory to God and the 
Lamb, forever and ever, Amen. 






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